I Could Get Used To This
by foreignconcepts
Summary: With you it all comes naturally, I've lost the reflex to resist,and I could get used to this. LightningSally, rating is for later chapters.
1. Lightning's Return

**HEY!! IT'S FINALLY HERE!! This chapter is a "prologue" chapter, and it picks up right where the movie left off, with Sally and Lightning racing each other to Flo's. Enjoy! **

* * *

"Too slow, Stickers!" Sally called out as she drove into Flo's V8 Cafe.

"Not fair! You had a head start!" Lightning said as he skidded to a halt by the closest pump to the road.

"Guess dinner's on you." She teased as he playfully glared at her.

"Look who it is! " Lizzie cried.

"Welcome back, Lightning." Sheriff said. "Good to have you back."

Flo looked at Sally, smiling. "I thought we were going to have a terrible time keeping it a secret until Lightning went to find you."

"You knew!?" Sally exclaimed.

"Well I went to the race, didn't I? Here ya go sweetie." Flo placed a small can in front of Sally, then Lightning and the others at the pumps.

Lightning sniffed the container in front of him. "Gasohol?"

Sally laughed. "What, did you think there was no such thing as gasohol here? There's not much of it but we don't live under prohibition."

At the same time Doc rolled out into the middle of the small crowd of cars gathered at the pumps, still covered in stickers from the race. "I don't need to tell you all that we've seen a lot within the last ten days. Never in a million years had I ever thought I'd be parked here in front of you all, looking like I am right now. Radiator Springs is now officially home to racing headquarters of Lightning McQueen and soon a racing museum. Radiator Springs was left in the dust and forgotten about for decades, and the truly amazing thing about these last few days is that this town is on it's way to making a remarkable comeback." He looked at the faces of the cars around him as he continued, "So now it's time to celebrate. To Lightning McQueen, and the Radiator Springs Racing Team!"

A round of cheers was heard from the cars at the cafe.

Within a few moments the sun had set and for the second time in less than a week the buildings were lit by neon. Lizzie rolled over to the porch of the Curio shop and hit the dial on the radio. A mix of oldies and country came out of it, and the residents of the town rolled out into Main Street, their frames moving to the beat of the music. Sally watched the scene unfold from the edge of Flo's cafe.

"You happy?" Flo asked with a wink, appearing beside her.

"Very." Sally replied, no longer trying to conceal the smile that was threatening to reveal her true emotions to them all. "Part of me still can't believe he's actually back here. He actually came back, for the town, for us... for me."

"Sweetie, you had him since the day he saw that sign for the Interstate." Flo chuckled, watching Lightning try to fend off Lizzie and her stories yet again. "Wanted to get out of here so bad, then turned around and went the other direction following you. Now go rescue him from Lizzie."

As if on cue Lightning managed to free himself from Lizzie and came up to Sally, so they were almost face to face. Was he actually going to kiss her while she was standing right there beside Flo? Sally wondered. They stared at each other for a split second before Lightning asked, "Do you wanna cruise?"

"I'd love to." She answered and the two went out to join the others. She kept thinking about what had almost happened that afternoon, the first kiss that they had yet to share. _Maybe I should make the first move,_ she thought, _who says I have to leave it up to him? _The two moved closer together as they made their way up the street. "Stickers?"

"Yeah?"

"The next time you chase me, you'd better be able to catch me." Sally said flirtatiously.

Lightning smirked, looking at her beside him. "You're on." he said.

* * *

"Hey." Lightning said, appearing in the doorway to the Cozy Cone office.

Sally looked up. An instant smile appeared across her bumper. "Hey." She moved out from behind the desk, and came over to him.

Lightning scuffed his tire against the floor. "So... I guess I was wondering, does your offer still stand from before? For Cone 1?"

"Of course." Sally replied. She couldn't remember who inched closer first, but the next thing she knew she was locked in a passionate kiss with Lightning, one that she'd been anticipating all day. About a minute later they pulled apart, looking at each other as if they couldn't believe that it had finally happened.

Lightning smiled at her. "So, I'll see you in the morning?" He asked, breaking the short silence.

"Yeah. Good night Stickers." She said sweetly.

As Lightning drove off to the cone closest to the road, Sally turned around and went back to her desk, trying to contain her excitement. She still found it hard to believe that some "hotshot racecar" she'd known for less than 2 weeks could have such an effect on her. And he was here to stay. However, her happiness dropped a level when she noticed the answering machine on her desk. With everything that had happened since Lightning's arrival, she had nearly forgotten all about what was on it. Extending a tire, she hit the "play" button on the machine, replaying the message that she'd received days earlier.

"Monday, November 21, 2005, 9:47 PM. 1 Message." The automated voice stated. A second later she heard a familiar voice on the machine. "Sally? It's me. Wow, I can't believe I actually found you... Uh, listen, no one knows I'm calling, not even Elle, and I promise I won't say anything. Sally, no one cares why you left, no one's mad, we just miss you! Look, I'm gonna be a dad in a few weeks and I guess- I guess I just really… wish you were here to talk to. You know my carphone number, Sally, just please-"

And then Lightning had sped into town.

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**So that was my first chapter. It's probably going to be the shortest of all the chapters, the next few will be a bit longer. **

**Reviews? You know you wanna…**


	2. A Couple of Weeks

**I'm back… FINALLY, but nonetheless with an early Christmas present for you all in the form of Chapter 2! **

**First off I'd like to apologize for the long wait in between chapters, I was tied up with final projects and end of term stuff for most of this month. Ugh, but seriously, 1 month between postings equals not going to happen again. Thank you to all 11 people who reviewed my first chapter and also to the 6 that put this story on alert just based on the first chapter! You guys rock! **

**I'm warning everyone now: this chapter is one of the longer ones. The reason for it's length is that there are a few subplots in here that I've tried my best to coordinate, which surprisingly enough, was NOT easy - I've done my best with it, and I hope it reads and "flows" as it should. **

**Disclaimer: Cars is owned by Pixar, but you all knew that. Any characters that you don't recognize however, are owned by me, with the exception of Nevan, who is property of Twin-One. **

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* * *

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Two minivans came rolling into the Cozy Cone office. It was Minny and Van, the two lost vans that came into town trying to find their way to the interstate. After 3 days of searching for the interstate, and a few blown spark plugs later, they had arrived back in town, and had been staying at the Cozy Cone ever since.

"Checking out?" Sally asked, as they came in.

"Oh, I think so." Minny said. "Had a nice time here, but time to go back home. Van's fixed up and we need to get back to the kids before they destroy the garage."

"Yeah, and I finally got that bumper sticker off."

Sally chuckled. "Don't mind Lizzie. That's pretty much the worst she'll do to you." She said, processing the credit card that Van had given her.

"Sally." A voice came from the door to the lobby.

She looked up and realized that it was Sheriff. "Hey Sheriff, I'll be with you in a minute." Sally looked back at Minny and Van, and gave them back their cards and receipt.

"What's going on?" She asked, he didn't usually show up like this. The last time he did, it was when Lightning had first arrived...

"Caught four street racers yesterday, they're due in traffic court at noon." Sheriff said.

Sally nodded, following Sheriff out of the lobby, and the two made their way to the courthouse.

* * *

There was a crowd outside the courthouse when Sally and Sheriff arrived. Everyone was still outside, while Mater was getting ready to tow the street racers in. As soon as Sally saw Lightning, he came over to her, giving her a kiss on the fender. "Good luck today." Lightning said, not sure of what else to say. He was just glad that this time he wasn't the one on the receiving end of whatever Sally had in store.

Sally smiled, giving him a little nudge in return. "Thanks."

"Hey, kid." A voice came from behind Lightning and Sally, who were parked in front of the courthouse.

"Mack, hey." Lightning hadn't seen the truck in a couple of weeks, as he'd chosen to take some vacation time after the racing season ended. "How was the trip home?"

"Great. My kids are growing like crazy. Anyway, I brought your trailer with me this time. Any particular place you want to keep it? " Mack asked. He looked over to the blue car parked beside Lightning. They looked to be fairly close.

"Mack, this is Sally, she's my... girlfriend." Lightning finished, realizing that this was the first time that he'd used the term when talking about Sally. He noticed her smile and look at him quickly, realizing that it was the first time they'd referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend as well.

Mack smiled. He vaguely remembered seeing Lightning with a blue car the night that the press had arrived in Radiator Springs, but had not thought much of it; at the time he was just so happy to have found him. So that explained it - why he didn't want to leave, why he couldn't concentrate on the race - the cocky, egotistic Lightning McQueen that he had become accustomed to hauling around the country was in love. "Nice to meet you, Sally."

"Nice to meet you too Mack." Sally replied. She nudged Lightning a little. "Looks like I need to go in now, see you after the trial." She followed Doc into the courthouse.

Mack looked around - the town seemed to have changed somewhat since he'd been there last. Or maybe it was just that he was seeing it in the daylight. He looked to his right and suddenly made eye contract with four teenaged cars in parking boots, with the town sheriff watching them closely. He turned his attention back to Lightning. "Those are the kids on trial?" he asked.

Lightning nodded.

"Wait a minute..." Mack squinted at the four tuners, who were trying to maintain their composure, knowing that he had recognized them. "It was them." Mack continued. "They were the ones who pushed me off the road the night that you went missing."

Lightning sighed. "I'll go tell Sally. Maybe she can do something - there's no way they're getting away with that. Can you put my trailer behind the Cozy Cone Motel?"

"Sure, kid." Mack said, and Lightning disappeared into the courthouse.

* * *

The court ruling, as one would have predicted, was in favor of the town of Radiator Springs. Sure enough, after Lightning had told Sally about Mack's encounter with the tuners, she did do something - she called Mack in to testify against the cars. They were charged with not only speeding, but hostile acts of violence against another vehicle, and Doc had sentenced them to 1000 hours of community service. Within a few hours, Sheriff, Doc, Bessie, and their captors were down at the end of the new stretch of pavement.

Doc was the first to speak. "Boys, this is what is known as community service. We're going to hitch you all up to Bessie, and you're going to pull her until you reach the town line, which is the welcome sign where you were caught in the first place."

Various protests could be heard all the way to Flo's cafe.

"What? No way!"

"That's like 5 miles!"

"This is extortion! You can't do this to us!"

Snot Rod did not say anything, but sneezed, catching the others off-guard.

"Enough!" Sheriff shouted them down. "This is the deal that we are willing to make. When the amount of effort needed is divided up between the four of you, the amount of physical exertion is reasonable. It will take time, about a week or two, but it is doable. You will be allowed to go home to your families in the evenings, and once you've finished the road then we'll see what we can work out from there." He and Doc then proceeded to hook each car, struggling as they were against them, to Bessie.

* * *

**3 Days Later...**

Boost and DJ drove down Main Street, and stopped short at Flo's cafe. Boost nudged DJ, trying to push him forward towards the cafe where Sally was. "You do it. You talk to her, it was your idea anyways."

DJ gave his counterpart a glare and slowly drove up to the pump, parking himself beside Sally.

"Uh, hey." He said, looking over at her.

She gave him a sidelong glance. "Hey." she said, and went back to watching

Lightning and Doc, who were discussing plans for the racing museum.

"Um, can I talk you?"

Sally still wasn't paying any mind to DJ. "About?" She asked.

DJ thought for a second. He did know a thing or two about lawyers from the times he'd landed himself in juvenile traffic court as a kid. If he wanted her to be on his side, at least in terms of legal representation, he'd have to give her something as a retainer. It was then he noticed that Flo had a few cans of oil with her, and he quickly drove up to her. "Can I have one of these?" He asked quickly.

Flo gave him a look like he had 6 tires, but gave him a can of oil, and he quickly turned "Here." he said, giving the can to Sally.

Sally looked from the can to DJ. "What's this for?"

"Legal advice."

"Legal advice." Sally repeated, understanding now. "What would you possibly want advice on? Have you gotten yourselves into trouble somewhere else as well?"

"No..."

"Then... might I ask what you want? Or need?"

"Look, pulling Bessie sucks, okay? She's ruining our paint, not to mention we're exhausted. And for the love of Chrysler, what more could Doc possibly want us to pave?"

"Paving roads is standard community service."

"You can't, you know, appeal it?"

"It's what Doc sentenced you to, I don't see the problem with it."

"What if I have a better idea?" DJ tried to hide his growing irritation with the situation. "Look, let me put it to you this way. You may think that we're nothing but a bunch of delinquent street racers, but just remember that if wasn't for us, you would have never met him." He pointed out, motioning to Lightning with his tire. "So if anything, you owe us."

_Oh, you manipulative little ... _Sally's thoughts trailed off as she realized that he did have a point. Lightning never would have ended up in Radiator Springs if Sheriff hasn't chased him down, but she recovered quickly. "Okay boys, first off, don't give me this 'I owe you' crap. The way I see it, you didn't 'save' Lightning, you damn near killed him. So I don't owe you a thing. But, if you honestly want me to further consider this idea of yours, whatever it is, then meet me in the courthouse later on this evening, I better see all 4 of you there."

* * *

"A radio station." Doc repeated, with Sally, Boost, DJ, Snot Rod and Wingo parked before him in the courtroom. "Sally, you want to appeal the sentence of paving roads to have them start a radio station?"

"Why not? It would be part of the Radiator Springs Renewal Project, and you and I know there's an abandoned station at Tailfin Pass from only Manufacturer knows when. If they divide their time up between paving the roads and this, it'll benefit the town in two ways, not just one."

Doc sighed, looking down at them. "After careful consideration of this situation, I have decided to agree to DJ's idea for a radio station, but only with Sally's conditions. The community service hours must be divided equally between the two projects, and no one cars gets to work exclusively on either." He said, looking at DJ. "No one gets out of paving. As for music, the only rule is that nothing played could be deemed offensive. Boys, can you agree to these terms?"

Wingo and Boost looked at DJ, nodding. Snot Rod looked up at Doc, almost paralyzed. It was clear to all of them by now that he didn't like courtrooms. Wingo hit him with his tire and he nodded quickly.

"We agree." DJ said, speaking for the four of them.

"Then it's settled. You'll start 2 days from now, on Friday night." Doc said, getting down off of the hoist. "But Sally, you're in charge of this one." He said to her as he left the courtroom.

* * *

**The next day…**

"There you are, Miss Carrera. Everything should be working fine now."

Sally drove out of the Cozy Cone to see a cherry picker outside, fiddling with the power lines that crossed the street near the driveway's entrance.

"You may want to go inside to make sure everything working as it should be now."

"Right..." Sally said, turning around and going inside. With the restoration of phone service came a whole flood of problems Sally would rather not think about - namely whether or not she should return the phone call that was left on her answering machine from what was now a few weeks ago.

"Afternoon, Miss Sally." Sally's thoughts were interrupted by Mater who appeared in the lobby. "They, uh, they sent me in to see if the phones was workin' yet in here?"

"What? Oh, crap, I forgot..." Sally picked up the phone, and a dial tone could be heard. "yeah, tell him everything seems to be fine here."

He turned to leave the lobby then turned around again to face Sally, who seemed to be "Ya alright? You seem a little, I don't know, confused. Is somethin' the matter?"

"Mater..." Sally started. _How do I even begin to explain this... I haven't told anybody here this..._ "Someone called here the night that Lightning came into town. I can't for the life of me figure out how he found me off the map like this but he did... "

"Well, who found you?" Mater asked.

"Elijah."

Mater gave her a confused look. "Who?"

Sally sighed. "My twin brother."

"Shoot, you never told me you was a twin!" Mater said enthusiastically.

"Mater, please-" Sally started to say, but stopped when she saw the enthusiasm drain from his face. "It's just... I don't know what to do. He was always my best friend growing up, we were always there for each other, but now it's not that simple - I mean it should be, but it's not... I'm the one who left LA, I left that life behind, and I... just don't know how messy calling him back is going to make that."

"Well, you know what they say: oil is thicker than water. Why don't you call him back? If you two were really as close as you say, he know better than ta drag you back into your old life, you know, whatever it was that you was tryin to get away from."

Sally smiled. This was surprisingly wise advice coming from the rusty tow truck, so much so that Sally got the feeling that he was often severely underestimated by the others in town, even after all these years. "Thanks Mater." She said. "Thanks for letting me ramble."

"Ah, its nothing. Promise me you'll call though?"

She nodded, still not entirely convinced. "Okay, promise."

* * *

**Somewhere in Los Angeles, later that evening...**

"What's the matter with him? He won't sleep, he won't even stop crying." Elle cried. "He's been crying for hours. You're the surgical resident, honestly how can a baby cry for that long without wearing himself out?" She asked the light blue Porsche who was also pacing around their high-rise apartment.

"Elle, he's fine." Elijah said, placing one of his front tires on the baby car's fender. "Medically, there's nothing wrong with him. He probably just has a colicky fuel tank."

Elle looked down sympathetically at their son, screaming in his bassinet. "That would explain why he's been crying forever." She picked the baby car up in an effort to comfort him. Over the baby's cries, a faint polyphonic ringtone could be heard. Elle sighed. "You're ringing... I think." She told Elijah, trying to balance the newborn that was still crying loudly.

"Yeah, you're right." Elijah reversed and quickly went out onto the balcony of their condo away from the noise. "Hello?" he said, seemingly to no one in particular - for anyone who didn't realize that he had a carphone, he would've looked like he was talking to himself.

"Hey." The voice on the other end of the phone said, almost meekly.

Elijah's eyes widened as he heard the voice on the other end. "...Sally? That you?"

"Yeah. It's me." Sally said a bit more purposefully. "It's actually me."

"Yeah, I know." He said, turning around on the balcony to face the city, and still after all this time wondering how come he never could figure out exactly what made his twin sister snap and leave it all behind one night. "I can hardly believe it. How have you been, where are you?"

"Who are you talking to?" Elle asked at the same time, with a faint tone of annoyance in her voice, which he ignored.

"Can I tell her?" Elijah asked Sally.

"I guess so." Sally said, on the other end of the phone.

"Sally." Elijah said to Elle.

"What'd she say?" She asked nervously.

"Nothing, she just gave me a weird look and went back inside. She didn't really process it, I don't think-"

"Elijah!" Elle called from inside. "We need formula already! Can you go out and get some?"

Elijah nodded as he came back into the apartment, acknowledging that he'd heard her and would go, then left.

The silver Mercedes SL500 turned around and went back to the crying infant. "Please, just go to sleep..." Elijah heard her saying as the door closed behind him.

"Wow... when did Elle have the baby?" Sally asked.

"Three days ago, on the 4th. A boy - Nevan Alexander Carrera. He's silver with green eyes, looks just like us, except he's a Type 997 Carrera."

"Aww, congratulations!" She sighed. "So I'm an aunt... Elijah I'm so sorry I didn't get to call you back earlier, I just got phone service back this afternoon."

"It's okay, the thing is you called back. I didn't know if you would."

Sally forced a smile. She hated to admit that she'd thought twice about it even, but the truth was she had - the last thing she wanted after all this time would be to be sucked back into her old life in Los Angeles. "Of course I would."

"Seriously though, you were without phone service for 2 weeks?"

"Yes. Trust me, it's a long story..."

* * *

"...I'm in love. It's only been a couple of weeks, but it's love. I can't explain..."

Lightning's eyes widened. Was she serious? It was exactly what he wanted to hear... but who was she talking to? He knew she couldn't see him outside the office - his lack of headlights made him nearly invisible in the darkness that had quickly fallen upon the town. She didn't appear to be paying attention to anything outside the office anyway. Lightning put himself in reverse and backed out of the driveway to the Cozy Cone, heading back to Flo's.

A voice came from behind him. "So... did ya do it? Ya tell her?"

Lightning jumped, startled to find that Mater had snuck up on him. "Mater! How many times do I have to tell you, don't do that!"

Mater ignored Lightning's remark. "So, I take it you haven't told Miss Sally that you love her."

"No, I haven't." Lightning said, slightly exasperated. "I was going to, but when I got back to the Cozy Cone she was on the phone with somebody."

"Oh really? Who?" Mater asked, zigzagging slightly within the lane, like he always did when he was trying to get information out of Lightning.

"I don't know who. But that's not the point. I overheard her talking - she said she was in love. Obviously she didn't see me, she didn't know I was there, but I clearly heard her say it."

"Shooot, I told ya you's had nothin' to worry about! Now just tell her and be done with it!"

It was obvious that Mater was happy for his friend, the only question was, could he keep it a secret until Lightning could get a chance to tell her? He'd lasted about 3 hours so far, but that was no indication of how long he could hold out without spilling the beans to someone. To say that Lightning was wary of Mater's ability to keep secrets, especially secrets of this nature, would be an understatement. "Yeah, okay I believe you now. Just don't tell anyone anything - this conversation never happened, you never saw me back at the Cone, nothing, okay?"

"Well alright." Mater said, unfazed, and he went back to the impound.

* * *

The next night, Sally, Boost, and DJ slowly climbed the road up to the tiny AM radio station perched on a ledge near Tailfin Pass. It had been abandoned for years, but Boost and DJ had won the lottery when it came to getting the radio station first.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sally asked the Scion, after they'd figured out how to get everything turned on and working. He appeared to be pondering the very existence of the Cars universe.

"I... don't know what to play." DJ stated simply.

Boost sighed in exasperation. "Just pick something randomly."

"Fine." DJ replied. He picked out a CD from his collection. The first song that began playing was Luxurious by Gwen Stefani.

"Who sings this?"

"Uh, Gwen Stefani."

"Gwen Stefani, as in Gwen Stefani from No Doubt?" Sally asked, now recognizing the voice.

"As in, put out a solo album last year."

"Wait a minute, you know who No Doubt is?" Boost asked.

"No, I only grew up in Los Angeles." Sally replied sarcastically. "Of course I do."

"Just listen to it, okay?" DJ said, putting an end to the conversation between the two.

"Alright." _Maybe these kids weren't that bad... _Nevertheless,Sally found herself getting lost in her own thoughts, as she was listening to the song. She couldn't stop thinking about Lightning, how she'd definitely rather be spending her time with him than babysitting these delinquent road hazards and their little radio station. Her mind began to drift as she was listening to the lyrics of the song, and soon she wasn't paying attention to DJ and Boost...

"_G'night, see you tomorrow." Flo said to Sally and Lightning as they drove off. It was close to midnight, and Flo's cafe had just closed for the night. The residents of the town slowly began to disperse, going their separate ways for the night. _

We're so rich in love, we're rolling in cashmere, got it in 5th gear baby

_She and Lightning drove back to the Cozy Cone, stopping in front of Cone 1. What came next was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, as she and Lightning moved closer towards each other and kissed each other goodnight. _

Diamond in the rough is lookin' so sparkly...

_This time however Lightning pulled away from her, reversing back into the cone, leaving Sally parked there. "You can come in, you know." he said. _

Workin' so hard every night and day and now we get the payback

_Sally quickly realized that he'd moved back not to end the kiss and go to sleep, and without a word she followed Lightning into the cone, where they continued kissing. _

Tryin' so hard savin' up the paper now we get to lay back

_She pushed Lightning back farther into the cone, deepening the kiss, and she could tell he was loving every second of it. What was supposed to be a simple goodnight kiss was quickly turning into a lusty makeout session... _

Workin' so hard every night and day and now we get the payback

"_Sally..." Lightning whispered to her, nuzzling and kissing her fender._

The payback, the payback…

"_Stickers..."_

"_Sally." this time Lightning didn't sound like himself; he sounded suspiciously like DJ..._

"Yo, Sally!" Boost shouted, clearly interrupting whatever fantasy was in the Porsche's mind.

Sally jumped slightly, and felt herself turning bright red underneath her blue paint. "What? Sorry, I missed that, what?" She asked, somewhat confused. _Stickers... Jesus Chrysler, I didn't say that out loud, did I?! No, I couldn't have... _She smiled to herself, shaking her hood. _It's only been a few weeks, it's way too early for that, but hey, a girl can dream, can't she? _"Um, I... I have to get back to the Cozy Cone, but I will have the radio on - if you try and pull anything, I will know. Is that clear?"

Boost and DJ rolled their eyes. "Okay..." They both said in unison.

Sally turned around and left the station, making her way back to town.

DJ started laughing after she left. "What'd I tell ya, man? Music is the universal language."

* * *

Sally arrived at the Cozy Cone just as the sun was setting. She glanced over at Cone 1 as she turned into the driveway but it was dark - Lightning was not there. She sighed and went into the Cozy Cone office, and turned on the radio, in order to keep an eye on Boost and DJ.

"Alright Radiator Springs here we go, a little 90's throwback, we all know who this is going out to." She heard DJ laughing as he put on Fantasy by Mariah Carey.

Sally rolled her eyes and sank father down on her tires behind the desk, slightly mortified, knowing all too well that the song was directed at her. Over the sound of the music she heard an engine, then saw Lightning appear. She quickly turned the radio off, almost as if she didn't want him to hear the song. "Hey."

"Hey." Lightning said, almost nervously, coming closer to her. He was going to do this. He had to do this. He looked over at the radio. "Uh, w-why'd you turn it off?"

Sally smiled at him. "No real reason, just DJ and Boost trying to mess with me. Why, what's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing, I-I just..." Lightning trailed off, with Sally looking at him expectantly. "I love you!" He blurted out, catching her a bit off guard. "I mean... you know, you and me, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and-"

Sally silenced him by pressing her lips to his. "I love you too. I honestly didn't know it was possible to fall for someone so fast." She said, pulling back slightly. "Come on, they're probably waiting for us at Flo's."

* * *

**Okay, I realize that was a long one. I warned you last time that it'd be long, but at just over 4000 words even I was surprised. Hopefully there won't be another long one like that for a while. **

**The next chapter you don't want to miss… it is going to be one of the most intense yet XD… so you have been warned, hehe**

**I hope some of you still have some energy left after reading all that to give me a review. **

**Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! **


	3. Chasing Cars

**Well folks, this is the chapter you've all been waiting for. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter, your reviews totally made my day XD **

**Chasing Cars. What can I say… good lil song by a band called Snow Patrol. This song has been in my head for this chapter since the summer, coincidentally it was also my favorite song the time that Cars was released. In fact, my initial notes on this chapter were as follows: "omg omg omg best song best song ever probably going to be the biggest song of 2006 and here I go making it even bigger." Yeah, gotta love it. **

**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES OF SEX AND SENSUALITY. VIEWER/READER DISCRETION _IS_ ADVISED! slaps about 10 000 warning labels down on top of chapter **

**Seriously. I'm telling you now, this is NOT for the weak-engined. Don't say you haven't been warned. I've never had to say this outright before but I do feel it warrants saying now: NO FLAMES. Flaming is not synonymous with reviewing. A shred of maturity would be greatly appreciated in this matter. **

**Anyway, without further ado…**

* * *

**February, 2006 - Ramone's House of Body Art...**

"Alright, hold your breath. You ready?." Ramone said, lifting the tire that had the airbrush attached to it.

Lightning nodded and did so, not wanting a mouthful of paint. He waited to feel the cold spray of paint hit his metal, and tried not to move. It was hard to stay still during this, and Lightning found the best thing to do was to try and think of something else. Usually Sally filled his thoughts, and this time was no exception...

_December 24, 2005…_

"_Here you go." Sally said, giving the car in front of the desk a garage door opener marked '8'. "You'll be in Cone 8, which is the first one on the left. Enjoy your stay." _

"_Is this place actually full tonight?" Lightning asked, coming into the office after the guests left. _

"_It is. It has been all week. I'm breaking even for the first time in... ever." Sally said. _

"_That's great." _

"_Yeah. There's a ton of cars here for the opening of the racing museum." She smiled, playing with one of the cone toys on the desk. "Part of me's thinking that maybe if it's going to be this busy here now, I should try to do something with Wheel Well. I don't know, maybe it's stupid idea-"_

"_I don't think it's stupid at all." Lightning cut in. "Sounds like a good idea to me."_

"_You're serious." Sally said, almost disbelieving._

"_Yeah, why not?" _

"_Well, I mean, I can't do it alone... I'd have to split myself in two in order ro run both places, let alone fix the other place."_

"_Who said you'd be alone? You got me, remember? I'll help you with it. I know what the place means to you - lets do it."_

_Sally was speechless. She looked at him for a second before rushing forward and kissing him._

_Lightning laughed as she pulled away. "Merry Christmas, babe." _

_In retrospect, it was probably one of the sweetest things he'd ever done..._

"So how are you and Sally doing with Wheel Well?" Ramone asked Lightning, cutting into his thoughts.

Lightning opened his eyes and realized that Ramone was finished painting the front of him, and he could talk again. "Uh... great. We're doing great. With Wheel Well, I mean." It was mere days before the Piston Cup Season opener, and Ramone had been put in charge of repainting Lightning for the season. The giant lightning bolt stickers were off to the side, along with the large Rusteze sticker for his hood. He sighed looking over at them. "Kind of sucks that you have to paint over everything that you did before."

"It's okay, man. Gives me more practice this way, you know, keep my skills sharp when there aren't a lot of customers around. Besides, it's a whole lot easier than repainting myself today."

"I'll say. Speaking of which, how DO you do that?" Lightning asked.

Ramone smiled. It wasn't the first time he'd been asked that question. "Can't say. Trade secret."

"Sure you can, come on."

"I'm serious, not even Flo knows." Ramone said.

"Alright..."

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity in Ramone's, Lightning was happy to be out of

there. He made his way back to the Cozy Cone. He drove into the lobby, only to find that Sally was not there. He looked through the lobby to see that Sally was in her own cone, the one directly behind the lobby.

Sally looked up to see him coming towards her.

"Ka-chow!" Lightning said, stopping short on the ramp to Sally's cone and doing his signature lightning bolt flash. It had been dark for quite some time, but the shiny sticker caught the reflection of the light that was above the entrance to Cone 6 just as if it was sunlight.

This time Sally wasn't annoyed by the sudden reflection of light into her eyes, she just laughed. "Where have you been all day?" She asked as he came forward to kiss her.

"Ramone's... I've learned that paint takes an excruciatingly long time to dry." He said.

"I'll say." She said, still inches from his bumper. "So I guess now the name Stickers really bequeaths you." Their lips had barely touched when the reflection of taillights off of the glass inside the lobby caught Sally's eye. "Customers... must be late arrivals." She confirmed, pulling back. Customers. For weeks it had been like this. The very thing that used to be so desired by the town was now both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for the town, a curse for any of it's inhabitants that wanted a shred of time to themselves, mainly Sally and Lightning. She sighed, the look in her eyes showing that she hated to leave him. "I.. I gotta-"

"Yeah, I know." Lightning said. He tried to put on a good face, but scowled as she left the cone and was out of sight. This was frustrating, to say the least. The Cozy Cone was full most nights, and it was those nights that the two of them could not seem to have more than 15 minutes alone without some form of interruption. Even throughout the offseason Lightning had plenty to do, with Rusteze and the racing museum, but it seemed that the more obligations he had, the more he found himself consumed with thoughts of Sally.

Sally sighed, looking over at Cone 1 from the lobby after she'd finished checking the other guests in. _Why is it that whenever we get a few minutes alone something always seems to interrupt us? Honestly, is a little time alone with my boyfriend TOO much to ask for? _She could've gone over there. She should've gone over there, but she didn't want to be seen running between cones too much, not to mention staying in one for more than a few minutes.

The next thing that Sally remembered was opening her eyes in the Cozy Cone lobby as the sunlight was streaming through the windows. _What?! I actually fell asleep here? Ow... guess I did... _She thought as she stretched, trying to get all of the kinks out of her frame that had come with falling asleep on the floor.

"Morning." A voice came from outside the lobby.

Sally smiled as she saw Lightning looking at her. "Morning, Stickers." She said wearily.

"You... fall asleep here?" He asked, coming into the lobby.

Sally nodded, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, it's not the most comfortable place in the world to fall asleep."

"I wish we could get more than a few minutes alone together." Lightning said, coming towards her.

Sally sighed, nodding in agreement. "I know, we've been dating for like 2 months and not had time to do anything other than make out, if that."

"Hey kid, time to go practice!" Doc's voice cut into their conversation from somewhere outside.

Lightning pretended not to hear Doc from inside the lobby. He turned his attention back to Sally, kissing her. "You have no idea how much I want to-"

"Have sex?" Sally finished, smiling. "Believe me, I do." She kissed him again.

"Lightning!" Doc called again. "You want to win this first race Sunday or not?"

The two reluctantly pulled apart.

"Go," Sally said, "It's not like I'm not going to be here when you get back." _And so it begins again... _She sighed as she watched Lightning and Doc drive out of sight towards Willy's Butte. She looked over to Flo's. _I'm starving, when was the last time I filled up? _At this exact moment, life felt completely beyond her control. She shook her hood then made her way to the Cafe.

"What's wrong honey? Feelin' down?" Flo asked, as she brought Sally a can of oil. She could tell the younger car was not quite herself lately. Sally looked exhausted, to say the least, not to mention unhappy.

"A little, I guess." Sally looked down at the can.

Flo watched as the few cars that were at the other pumps finished refueling, and left. She turned back to Sally. "Well, looks like I've got a few minutes, if you want to talk."

"It's just... now there are so many cars here. It's what I so desperately wanted, and it's what everyone wants, right?"

"Well, it's certainly busier. It does take some getting used to, but of course it's what everyone's wanted. Why?"

"It's almost too busy. Lightning and I, we barely have a moment alone, not to mention everything else that's going on with the Wheel Well and the first race of the season is Sunday so he's always practicing..." She sunk down on her tires, thinking of it all. "To say I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed by it all is kind of an understatement."

"Oh, honey..." Flo looked at her friend worriedly. "What if I watch the Cone tonight for you? Give you a break for one night."

"That would be great." Sally sighed. "Can you manage it though?"

"Well, you need time to get some work done up there if you want to open by the 15th."

"Thanks Flo, I could really use the break from everything." She smiled.

"No problem, sweetie."

"Lightning!" Sally called, driving towards him as he was on his way back from Willy's Butte.

"Hey, where you going?" He asked, turning around.

Sally stopped momentarily. "Wheel Well." She said. "Flo's watching the Cone tonight for us, so we can finish it on time. Come on, race you!"

With that she was off again, turning the corner near the courthouse before he could process what she'd said. Lightning shook his hood before taking off after her.

* * *

**Several Hours Later...**

"Wow, when did it get dark?" Lightning asked, as they drove outside to a night sky full of stars.

The Wheel Well was now a far cry from what it used to be - all the plants growing out of the rocks that were blocking the doorways were gone, broken windows had been replaced, and the gas pumps were now fully functional. It was so close to being finished, the only thing left was to do was to clean the place up after the renovations.

Sally reversed and looked at him. She started laughing as she flicked on her headlights to see. "Since when do you worry about the dark? Are you afraid of the Ghostlight too?"

He moved closer to her. "Do you want us to be just a couple of license plates?"

"You're a racecar; you don't have a license plate."

Lightning looked up at the sky. "You know, this place is nice even at night."

Sally nodded, doing the same. "Yeah, it is, isn't it? I've never been up here at night until now."

The light emitted from her headlights was suddenly blocked out as Lightning moved in to kiss her. Sally allowed herself to get lost in the kiss for a moment, before giving in to the nagging voice in her mind telling her those rooms wouldn't clean themselves. Even though she would gladly welcome the distraction usually, she reversed a few feet, breaking the kiss and moving out of his way. "Alright Stickers, lets get back to work. We still have 3 more rooms to clean out." She drove back into the lobby of the Wheel Well, with Lightning looking on after her. "Come on." She said from inside the room closest to them.

Lightning followed her back into the lobby, but stopped short at the entrance to the room, causing Sally to turn and look at him.

"What is it?" She asked, seemingly unsuspecting.

"You." He drove into the room, impulsively kissing her. _Finally, no interruptions... I can have more than 15 minutes alone with her... _Lightning pushed her back farther into the room, until Sally felt her bumper touch the wall behind her.

"Lightning..." She started to say, as she realized that he now had her pinned.

Lightning kissed her again, not bothering to reply as he began kissing his way along Sally's left side. A half smile curled around Sally's lips as she realized what he was intending to do. She rolled forward a few feet as Lightning made his way farther back, allowing him to be able to move around behind her. He nosed his way underneath her, until her rear tires were off of the floor.

"Ooh, Stickers!!" She cried, as she felt Lightning's tongue slide over what had to be the most sensitive spot of her undercarriage. "Yeah, right there..." She said, softly. She could feel him break into a smile upon hearing this, before continuing to tease her with his tongue. She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but all that came out was a moan, as her front tires desperately tried to maintain their grip on the floor. _I don't even want to think about how long it's been since I felt this... _Sally's mind tried to push away the thought, as she felt herself succumbing to the pleasure that he was inflicting on her. "Oh, Lightning... please, whatever you do, don't stop... just- ohhh yes!!" She cried out.

Lightning moved out from underneath her, carefully letting her back down onto her tires. He smiled as he moved backwards, barely able to make out the image of the pinstriping tattoo in the darkness. Sally looked at him, out of breath and shaking a bit on her tires as he came around and parked in front of her. They were face to face once again, looking into each other's eyes. Sally moved closer to Lightning, and with his help managed to move underneath him, taking him into her mouth.

_Holy Porsche... _Lightning's mind screamed as she did this. He moaned, revving his engine at the same time. This was good - it was almost too good._ What,_ _no way, she just started, and already- _"Sal-Sally..." Lightning started to say.

"Mmhmm?"

"I- I..." He started, finding it hard to form words. As much as he didn't want to, he moved back, stopping her. She looked at him, a little confused. Lightning was quick to explain. "I don't want to... just yet..." He started to say, still panting.

Sally nodded, understanding.

"Now that we're finally alone," Lightning said, giving her a kiss on her bumper, "I want to at least get to have sex with you." He gave her quick nuzzle before driving around behind her again.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Sally replied. She stretched as far as she could on her tires with him above her, allowing Lightning to reach her opening. "Stickers..." She trailed off, feeling him enter her.

"This good?" He whispered, as he moved in and out of her.

"Yeah..." She breathed as they fell into a comfortable rhythm. _This is more than good; this is incredible... _Sally thought. "Lightning..."

"Sally!" Lightning exclaimed as he reached his own release. He stayed there for a moment, before moving and parking beside her.

Sally collapsed onto her tires, out of breath as well. "Love you." She said, looking over at him pressed against her.

"Love you too." Lightning returned breathlessly, giving her another quick nuzzle before sinking down onto his tires beside her. The two cars stayed there for a few moments, their frames pressed against each other's, before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Lightning opened his eyes to shards of light poking through the wood boards that made up the doors. _Huh? Where am I...Wheel Well? _His eyes darted around the dimly lit room, the memory of the night before came flooding back to him as he felt Sally's frame pressed against his. He looked over at her, watching her sleep. "Sal," he said, nudging her slightly. She was still sound asleep. "Sally..." He left her side and parked in front of her, nuzzling her and giving her a kiss on her bumper. "Wake up."

The blue Porsche slowly opened her eyes, smiling as she made out the shape of the red car in front of her. "Stickers, good morning." She rolled forward, kissing him lovingly. "Mmm... tell me that what I think happened last night did actually happen, I didn't just dream it, did I?"

Lightning smiled at her. "Nope."

The two made their way out of the room, into the lobby.

"What time is it anyway?" Lightning asked, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the

daylight that was cutting through the spokes in the giant wheel above them.

"I don't know." Sally said, looking up. The sun was almost directly overhead. "Noon, maybe?"

"Oh no, we gotta get back." Lightning said. "I have practice, and Doc'll really kill me this time if I'm late for it."

A look of horror washed over Sally's face. "And I left Flo watching the Cozy Cone. You're right - we've got to get back to town." She said, before taking off.

Lightning caught up to her by the time they reached the waterfall. "So..." He said, coming up beside her.

"So...what?" Sally asked, prompting him to continue.

"We... had sex." Lightning said.

Sally nodded. "We did. Finally." She smiled to herself, looking down at the road coming at her.

"Finally? When was the last time?" He teased, as they were making their way through the switchbacks of Cadillac Range.

"What?" Sally asked, looking over at him, still half smiling.

"You know... how long's it been since you ended up here? Has to have been awhile." He said, braking slightly to make the final sharp turn before the straightaway.

Sally scoffed, then playfully cut him off. "Well, when was your last time? I mean, how many cars have you had, just this racing season?"

"Hey, ouch." Lightning said, switching lanes and accelerating so he was beside her. "Well, if you really want to know, just 2. And besides, I asked you first."

She gave him a look, shaking her hood. "Not since I left Los Angeles." She said, speeding up as they rounded the final curve before reaching the town.

The two screeched to a halt as the reached Cross Street. _(A/N - this is the street that leads to Willy's Butte)_. "Looks like I go this way." Lightning said, as they faced each other. He drove towards her, kissing her quickly before heading in the other direction.

"Alright, see you later." She smiled, watching him drive off. She sighed happily before heading back to the Cone to face Flo.

* * *

"Flo!" Sally cried, as she sped into the driveway of the Cozy Cone. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize we were going to be gone that long!"

The green car looked up to see Sally drive into the lobby, explanations for her overnight disappearance spilling out of her. "Well I was wondering when you were going to turn up." She chuckled, knowing all too well what had happened, no matter what Sally was going to say.

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't plan on being gone all night- what?" She stopped talking as she saw Flo laughing at her.

"You had sex."

"Flo!" Sally started to say, trying desperately to hold back a smile. _Chrysler, is it really THAT obvious, like stamped on my hood or something? _"So, um, any new customers last night?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"Mmmhmm. That's what I thought." Flo said. "And no customers either."

"What was what you thought?" Sally asked, then realized she was only digging herself in deeper.

"You and Lightning had sex, and it was good." Flo stated, giving Sally a knowing look. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Okay, okay, you're right!" Sally exhaled, letting her guard down, "We did, and..." She lowered her voice slightly. "I think I forgot how good it was until last night."

"You poor dear." Flo said, half jokingly. "Well I believe you rediscovered how good it was; you do look kinda tired."

"I... I do?"

"Of course. Not surprising though, considering you two've been lovin' all night."

She sighed, shaking her hood. "I'm NOT going to fall asleep in the lobby again." Sally willed herself out loud, much to Flo's amusement.

"Alright hon, I'm gonna head back to the Cafe, I've got customers myself to get back to." She said, when she stopped laughing.

"Oh of course, definitely. Flo, thank you for ... everything." She said, starting to smile.

"You're welcome, and feel free to stop by later when you can get away. See you later." Flo said, before leaving the lobby.

* * *

"Argh, come on!" Lightning willed himself to move faster. He accelerated hard coming out of the turn, trying his best to put on an extra burst of speed. He couldn't understand why he was so exhausted - he was fine when they woke up... whenever they woke up, but now, 10 laps into practice, he was worn out to the point he could barely concentrate on the track in front of him. And with the Piston Cup opener only 3 days away, Doc was not making anything easy on him.

"Alright come in." Doc said, noticing Lightning's sluggishness on the track. He sighed, not able to understand why the younger racecar was so slow just days before they were going to race. "Come on rookie, what's the matter with you today? You're not even anywhere near close to your top speed from last practice." Doc said as Lightning came off the dirt track, looking beat.

Lightning sighed. "I don't know, just tired, I guess..."

"Tired, huh? Didn't you get any sleep... oh, I get it." Doc concluded, with a slight chuckle.

"Get what?" He asked, still winded.

"Just... you and Sally."

"Yeah, me and Sally, what does that have to do with anything? So I had sex with my girlfriend, since when does it matter to you? Why's it any of your business?" Lightning defended, shifting around on his tires uneasily.

Doc's good-natured attitude was quickly turning into irritation. "It's my business when I'm your crew chief and you're too beat to race. Now go home and get some sleep - _actual_ sleep - away from Sally. We're done for today."

"Doc..." Lightning sighed, watching as the Hudson Hornet sped off in a cloud of dust.

* * *

"Sally, good, you're here. Stop wearing out my racer before his big race." Doc said, stifling a laugh as he drove up to the pumps near her at Flo's.

Sally's eyes widened. "Alright, who told you?" She looked over to Flo.

"What? I didn't say anything." Flo said, on her way by the two with a few cans of oil on a tray.

"Lightning. And now, you." Doc said, now starting to laugh.

Sally sunk down onto her tires. _The perils of living in a small town... _She thought.

* * *

"Hey," Lightning said driving into the Cozy Cone Lobby. "Come with me."

"Okay, where are we going?" Sally asked, following Lightning out of the back of the lobby. She watched him drive between Cones 6 and 7, to the sparsely wooded area behind the Cozy Cone, before continuing after him. Behind the motel was Lightning's trailer. The large image of his face, racing number, and name could be seen from a mile away, even in the dark.

"So this is your trailer..." Sally said, following Lightning up the ramp. _This thing's been here for 2 months and I'm only seeing the inside of it now? _"Nice. Pretty cushy." She smiled.

"Yeah." Lightning said, looking around the familiar surroundings. "Pretty good if you have to live in it for an entire racing season."

Sally sighed, looking at the floor.

"I know." Lightning said, breaking the silence. "What you're thinking, that is."

"That..." She sighed, looking at him. "I don't want to say goodbye, even though it's just for a few days."

"Yeah." Lightning said. "Exactly."

She giggled, driving closer to him. "So… once more before you go?"

Lightning smirked. "You bet."

* * *

In the Cozy Cone driveway, Mack was waiting patiently for Lightning. Lightning had told him that he would be back shortly. He looked inside the lobby, only to find that Sally wasn't there either. He heard a persistent ringing sound and answered the carphone that he had with him, only to find a very annoyed voice was on the other line. "Mack, why do I keep getting bounced to you, I've been trying to get Lightning for I don't know how long now. Don't tell me you're still in Radiation Stinks, you were supposed to be on the road an hour ago!"

Mack sighed. "Sorry Harv, he's not answering his phone, I think they're still sayin' goodbye..."

Harv's voice now was a mix of irritation and confusion. "What? Who's still sayin' goodbye? Mack? Mack..." He shouted as the truck hung up the phone.

* * *

**Oookay, there you have it. The reason (or one of the reasons) why this story is rated what it is rated. As I said earlier, I've had this idea and song stuck in my head since the summer, and it was so weird to have it actually written out. What can I say, insanity and chaos rule in my mind. Seriously though, outside of this story concept, I honestly don't think about cars doing this kind of thing. Not much, anyway. **

**Now if I haven't rendered you all speechless, a review would be nice. XD**


	4. The Next Generation Part 1

**O.M.G. I have to say right now that I feel SO bad about this … 6 weeks and 1 day between updates. It didn't help that I was sick for 3 of them so in turn I had to spend the next 2 weeks catching up on school, and within last week I wrote this. **

**I would like to first explain the premise for this chapter a bit. Some of you who've read Tiny Tires by Twin-One will recognize one character from it. This story was a HUGE inspiration to me, I think it was the first Cars fic I read on here back in the summer. I got the OK from Twin-One to use Nevan in this back in October, so there's no stealing of characters going on here. I also wanted to build a bit on the premise of Tiny Tires for Nevan's re-appearance, but not take anything from it either. So, long story short: the way that this chapter is written, it stands on it's own, but it could easily fit into Tiny Tires as well. I strongly suggest giving Tiny Tires a read as well! **

**Disclaimer: Cars is owned by Pixar, but you already knew that. I, however, own any characters that you don't recognize, with the exception of Nevan, who is owned by Twin-One. Oh, and Will is NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD'S (sorry I almost forgot, Ellis!). **

* * *

It was a quiet March day in Radiator Springs all over, no customers to speak of. The Cozy Cone was relatively empty the night before, and Sally had the day to herself to spend with Lightning. Or so she thought. The second Lightning had come up to her and told her someone wanted her on the phone, she should've known that, no, today was definitely not going to turn out as planned... 

Parked in her usual spot behind the desk, her eyes widened as she suddenly realized what the phone call was about. "Hold on a second, you want me to take Nevan while you're gone?! Elijah, you get to go to Hawaii, take him with you, he'll like it I'm sure."

"That's the thing. It's 2 weeks long and it's a working conference for both of us, so we're both going to be pretty consumed with everything, or else we would. Mom and Dad are out of town for their 26th wedding anniversary so there's no one else to watch him, at least, no one else we'd trust... please, Sal, I wouldn't ask you unless I really didn't have anyone else to ask."

Sally was silent on the other end of the phone. He did sound desperate.

"You still there?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll watch him for you. So where do we meet for me to get him?"

"Well, considering the time constraint, you'd have to come here to get him."

"To... Los Angeles? I mean, right into LA?" Sally asked, knowing that she was stating the obvious, yet still hoping that she could somehow avoid it, if it was all possible. "Does it have to be LA, can't we meet someplace else?"

"Like where?"

"Um... Twentynine Palms!"

"What? That's way out in the desert."

"Okay, San Bernardino." She said desperately. _Please please please don't make me go back into that city... doesn't Route 66 end around there anyway? _

"LAX tomorrow morning, our flight leaves at 11:20."

"Fine." Sally exhaled, although it was obvious that she still had her reservations about it all. "You're sure I won't run into anyone, not-"

"Not anyone." Elijah confirmed, pre-empting the question and finishing her sentence.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." She said before hanging up the phone. She jumped as she saw Lightning appear in the lobby, then sighed, still off in her own world, before exiting the lobby.

"Hey, where are you going?" Lightning asked, turning to follow her.

"LA." Sally called, as she left the lobby.

"What? LA... oh, so that's it, you just love me and leave me now?"

Sally stopped and turned to face him." No, silly. Just for a day or so."

"But why? You hate Los Angeles... don't you?"

"That's... a loaded question with a loaded answer. I just have to go, but... I'll bring back a surprise." She smiled. "You'll see. I should get going though; I have no idea how long it's going to take me to get there. I could use a kiss goodbye before I go though." She said, driving towards him and kissing him enthusiastically before he could say anything else. She pulled back, giving him a loving glance, and turned towards the highway, driving off.

"Just... be careful. You know, drive safe." Lightning managed to get out as he watched her drive off into the distance along Route 66, still somewhat bewildered.

* * *

'_Friends don't let friends fly into LAX...' what happened to 'friends don't let friends fly OUT of LAX?'_ Elijah wondered as he maneuvered his way carefully through the mess of cars that had been behind him in line. Crowds never usually fazed him but there was some inexplicable reason Los Angeles International Airport was far worse than any traffic jam he'd encounter on a daily basis. He finally returned to where they were parked with a couple of cans of oil, giving one to Elle. "Here you go." he said, kissing her on the fender. 

Elle smiled momentarily as he did this, her mind still occupied with worry of the events to come. She looked over at Nevan in his bassinet, sleeping. "You really think she's gonna show?" Elle asked, looking around the airport through the crowds of other cars milling about.

"She said she'd be here. Why wouldn't she show? She's not just going to leave us stuck with him." Elijah said, trying to sound more confident than he felt._ She will show up... she better anyway, if she doesn't I'll... I'll tell Mom and Dad where she is when they get back. So yeah, she'll show. _

"How do you know that? I mean, I still can't believe you agreed to let Sally take Nevan while we're gone." She sighed, driving around in front of him. "Elijah, I know she's your sister but we haven't seen her in who knows how long. How do you know she's still the same car she was before?"

"Elle, she's still... Sally." Elijah finished, suddenly spotting his twin out of the other cars in the crowd. Without saying anything else, he went back into the crowd towards a matching light blue Porsche, leaving Elle looking after him.

Sally froze for a split second, recognizing the two cars off in the distance. She could sense the cars behind her getting irritated with her sudden stopping, so she sighed and continued along towards them. No matter how nervous she was about the whole reunion with her brother and sister-in-law, it was apparent she had no choice but to keep moving. Before she knew it Elijah had appeared out of the crowd in front of her. "Hey." She smiled. They looked at each other for a second, face to face before leaning their frames into each other's, the equivalent of a hug. "It is good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too." He said, smiling. "Come on, Elle's dying to see you as well." He motioned in a direction that was somewhere in amongst the mess of cars.

"Okay." She said, following him.

"Sally!?" Elle said, her face lighting up. "I don't believe it. Oh, how are you?" She drove over quickly to Sally, pressing her frame into hers, the same way Elijah had.

"Good, I'm good." Sally replied, looking from Elle to Elijah, both of them obviously happy to see her again. _This isn't so bad,_ she thought. _So far, so good... _"So where's the little axle-biter that you've been telling me so much about?" She asked with a smile.

"Right here. Come see him, he's awake now. " Elle said, motioning for Sally to come closer.

"Yeah, little monster he is." Elijah said, putting a tire around Nevan and pulling him out of the bassinet, setting him on the floor in front of them.

Nevan looked up at Sally and Elijah parked in front of him, intrigued. Sally put her tire near Nevan's and he instinctively reached for it. She smiled at the young car. "He's cute. You're right, he looks like you and I but he's got Elle's coloring exactly. So sweet too."

"Flight 7630 direct in-flight service from Los Angeles to Maui will be departing in 30 minutes, this is the final boarding call."

"Looks like we should go." Elijah said, sighing. He knew that Nevan would be safe with Sally, but he still dreaded actually saying goodbye to them.

"Yeah." Elle's eyes were already welling up with tears. "Goodbye, precious." She kissed the baby's hood and reversed quickly. "I knew I couldn't get through this without crying." She said, as a few tears slipped out and rolled off her fenders.

"It's okay, he'll be fine." Elijah said, giving her a reassuring nuzzle, but this only made her cry more. "Come on, we have to go." He said, pulling on her tire gently. She nodded reluctantly, giving Sally and Nevan one final look, before turning and following him.

"Okay, time to get out of here before LA starts to eat Aunt Sally's soul... again." She said to Nevan in an almost baby like voice, making him smile and giggle. "Lets go." She turned and made her way towards the exit to the airport.

"Sally?" A voice came from behind her.

Sally froze. Elijah and Elle were already through security, no one else was supposed to know her there. She paused for a second, frantically trying to place the familiar voice, before turning around to see a black BMW X5. "Bryan." She said, smiling slightly. Bryan was a life insurance agent, and one of her first clients. Over the few short years that she'd been practicing he'd also come to also be a good friend of hers.

"Hello dear. Haven't seen you in ages, how have you been?" It was then that Bryan noticed the tiny silver Porsche with her. "You had a baby?"

"Ah, no, no I didn't. He's not mine, he's my brother's." She smiled looking at Nevan, feeling that he was distracting from the more pressing question of her recent whereabouts, although she had to admit she'd never thought about people thinking that Nevan was hers.

"So which firm are you with now?"

Sally sighed quietly. No such luck. "None, I'm not practicing- I mean, I am, just not in California... I don't live here anymore. I'm, um, in Arizona."

"Arizona, that's great!" He started, the look on his face brightening. "I love Arizona. And you know how I was always goin' on about Sedona? I'm moving there, taking over an agency down there. Where are you?"

"Radiator Springs." She found herself saying, before she even realized it. _Why did I have to say Radiator Springs? Oh well, maybe he wouldn't know about Radiator Springs where it was off the map for such a long time... _

"The racing town? Well, if you're going to be close, and in town for the moment, maybe you could handle the paperwork for the sale of the business here _and_ there."

"Wha-"

"Please Sally, if you could, Will's taking care if it now but you know I'd really rather it be you. Closing date's the 15th of March."

"That's in 2 days..." Sally trailed off. _There's no way I'm staying in this city for 2 days. I'll have to take Nevan back and come back. That'll eat up the time. _ "Okay, okay... I'll find some way to get back here. Just do me a favor?"

"Sure, what's that?"

"Don't tell Will."

Bryan was about to ask why when they both were distracted by Nevan starting to cry. Sally turned her attention to the baby briefly, managing to calm him again by moving the bassinet around on its wheels. She looked back to see Bryan smiling at her, obviously in admiration of her quick reaction. "Won't be long now." He said.

Sally smiled and shook her hood, scoffing slightly. "Yeah, right." She said, before driving off.

* * *

Lightning looked at the tiny Porsche in front of him that was crying to no avail. _How did I get roped into this again? _He wondered. Sally had returned from California earlier that day, only to leave again as quickly as she'd come, mentioning only something about a client in Los Angeles that she needed to see that night. What was even more confusing was that she's left Lightning with an infant of all things, supposedly her nephew. 

_What makes babies cry so much? _Lightning wondered after he finally got Nevan to fall asleep. He looked into the bassinet at the sleeping car with his tire in his mouth. From inside the cone heard the phone in the lobby ring.

"Hey Stickers." A familiar voice on the other end of the phone said.

"Sally," Lightning exhaled, almost in relief at hearing her voice. "How was your meeting with your client?"

"Good, actually, he wants me to represent him again when he gets to Sedona. It was just a working dinner, we filled up and signed papers over some gasohol."

"Gasohol, so you're drunk?" Lightning teased.

Sally giggled at the accusation. "Of course not, I only had a couple drinks. I'm fine. How's Nevan doing?"

"He's okay, sleeping now."

"That's good." Sally said, looking up at the clock in her hotel room. There was nothing more she'd like than to be there with them, not stuck in LA...

"I miss you." Lightning finally said, breaking the silence.

Sally chuckled. "Aw, you do? I've only been gone for three days; you've been away from me longer than that before. That's sweet... or are you just saying that because Nevan's been keeping you up all night?"

"No, why, did he keep you up all night?"

"He was pretty good the night I was on my way back to town, only woke up once when he was hungry. That's why I didn't think he'd give you too much of a hard time. You are doing alright with him, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're doing great. I just miss you."

She smiled on the other end of the phone. "I miss you too Stickers, don't think for a second I don't. If I leave here early tomorrow morning, I should be back sometime tomorrow afternoon. I love you."

"Love you too. Night."

* * *

_Radiator Springs, finally... _Sally thought as she made out the shape of the large traffic cones in the distance. Two round trips to California in the span of 4 days, she was exhausted. _Well now where were they?_ Sally wondered as she neared the entrance to the Cozy Cone, looking around for her boyfriend and nephew. Then she saw Lightning and Nevan in the driveway. She stopped short, hiding herself behind Cone 1 as she lovingly watched Lightning nudging Nevan along. She smiled to herself, watching Nevan's tires carry him for a few feet and then splay out, leaving him on the ground. She watched as Lightning quickly gave him another nudge to get him back up and going again. It was nice to see this side of Lightning, completely unguarded. She moved out from behind the cone, catching their attention and making her presence known. 

Nevan stopped in his tracks and looked up at Sally, recognizing her and breaking into a toothless grin.

"Hey there little guy." Sally said, nuzzling him on the hood and fender and making him squeal and giggle. "Looks like your Uncle Lightning didn't manage to kill you I see." She looked up at Lightning, smiling.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you did great." Sally said as he came up and parked near her. "Thank you. You really came through for me taking care of him. I guess I'll have to find some way to thank you..."

"I'm sure you'll figure out a way to, you know, thank me for babysitting Nevan for you... trust me, he has no idea what I want to do to his Aunt Sally once I get her alone." Lightning said, nuzzling her and then pulling her into a kiss.

"Stickers..." She pulled away as she saw Nevan giving them a confused look. "Okay, no more making out in front of the baby." She said with a giggle.

"Just... happy to see you."

She smiled. "I know, me too." She gave him another quick kiss before turning and driving into the lobby with Nevan, whose attention was immediately drawn to a pile of traffic cones nearby.

"So how come you never told me before?" Lightning asked, following her.

"About Nevan?"

"Well, yeah, about Nevan, but about your brother as well. Mater said you and he are twins?"

Sally stopped in her tracks. "Yeah, yeah we are."

"That's … wow, I just never took you for being a twin. Do you two look alike?"

"Yep, pretty much the same." Sally said, nosing around behind the front desk.

She appeared to be looking for something. "I never showed anyone these before but, here." She put a small pile of pictures on the desk; some of them were of Nevan.

"How old is Nevan anyway?" He turned over the first picture to see it was marked Christmas 2005.

"About 4 and a half months, he was born in December." Sally looked over at Nevan playing with one of the smaller traffic cones contently.

Lightning pulled out another picture of two blue Porsches parked beside each other, sleeping. They were facing in opposite directions one with a blue pacifier and the other with a pink one, and looked to be about the same size as Nevan was. "Is this-"

"Yeah, that's me. And Elijah." Sally said, looking down at the picture.

Lightning shook his hood slightly. "I'll be. But I still don't get it, why didn't you ever mention anything-"

"Because you never asked. And... I don't know, it's just that sometimes, when you're a twin, it seems like everyone always thinks of you as one of two. It's not always intentional, it just kind of happens. Sometimes I hate myself for liking the fact that here I'm just known as Sally, not one of the Carrera twins."

"Yeah, but even if anyone knew here-" Lightning was cut off by Nevan crying. Lightning turned towards him but Sally got to him first. He had knocked over one of the cones that he was playing with and had become frustrated at his failed attempts to turn it upright again. Lightning was the first to speak. "He's probably tired, the last nap he had was earlier this afternoon."

"Yeah. You know what? I'll put him to sleep. You've had him for a few days now, it'll give you a break." Sally said, giving Lightning the cone and taking Nevan. "You are tired, aren't you?" She said, looking down at the crying car and nuzzling him slightly. "I'll be back in a little while." She said to Lightning before turning and leaving with the baby.

An hour passed. _What could be taking her so long? _Lightning wondered as he made his way back to Cone 6. "Hey Sally? Sal-" he stopped short when he saw her asleep with Nevan beside her, her right tire and axle around him. He paused for a second, unsure of what to do next before going back to the lobby. There had to be a camera there somewhere. Lightning quickly located it and went back to the cone, hoping that the flash from it wouldn't wake them as he took the picture. The camera promptly spit out the picture and Lightning took it back to the lobby, putting it with the others.

* * *

"It's about time you woke up." 

Sally opened her eyes to see Lightning parked in front of her in their cone. "Hey... where's the baby?" She asked sleepily.

"With me. He woke up a couple hours ago and I didn't want to wake you... Sally?" He asked, seeing the look on her face.

She inhaled shakily, and looked over towards the pan underneath the air conditioner. "Can you pass me that? Now, please?" The desperation in her voice seemed to tell him not to ask why, just to do it.

Lightning nodded, pushing the pan towards her, barely getting it in front of her before she started to vomit into it. He pulled his tire away, a little surprised. "Uh, are you okay?" He asked, unsure of what else to say.

Sally looked up at him momentarily, giving him a look that said, 'does it LOOK like I'm okay?' before continuing to vomit violently.

"I... guess not." He concluded. "No, no, you can't be sick... because if you're sick you can't be around the baby, right?"

"I don't know." She said, spitting out more gas, "I took Route 66 most of the way back, and the gas bar in Motor Corner was pretty sketchy... I was practically on fumes when I got there, it's not like I had much of a choice... I think I have fuel poisoning."

"Do you want me to get Doc?"

"No, just..." She paused for a second, afraid that more was going to come up, "Just go to Flo's, take Nevan with you."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "I just want to stay here and not move."

* * *

Flo's cafe was relaxed as usual. It was now mid-morning and Doc was the only other car at the pumps when Lightning turned into the cafe with Nevan in tow. He figured that he must've missed the morning rush when he was taking care of Sally. 

"Just the usual for me Flo." He told her as she came over to him. Nevan watched the two contently, drinking his own formula out of a bottle.

"Where's Sally? She did make it back last night didn't she?" Flo asked.

"She did, but she's sick." Lightning said, looking From Flo to Doc.

Doc turned his attention towards the two cars.

"Yeah, she thinks she has fuel poisoning."

Flo's eyes widened. "Fuel poisoning?"

"Not from here." Lightning quickly added. "She said the last place she stopped before getting back here was Motor Corner, wherever that is."

"Of course, she hasn't been here for days." Flo said, a bit relieved nonetheless. "Poor thing, she must be feeling pretty bad. Looks like you'll be taking care of both Porsches for a while then." She said, before giving Nevan a smile. He grinned back at her from behind his bottle.

Doc's expression was more serious. "Does she need her tank drained?"

"I don't think there's anything left in it, she was pretty sick when I left."

"Well if that's the case then it should pass by the end of the day." Doc concluded. "Odd though, it takes a lot to bring Sally down, she's usually pretty healthy."

"Yeah... I should get back," He started, noticing that the pump had stopped. "She told me to come over here, but I don't really want to leave her for too long... "

"Fair enough. But Lightning?"

"Yeah?"

"If she's not better by this time tomorrow, come and get me."

Lightning nodded, before turning to leave.

* * *

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Without gas, Sally was forced to stay at the motel, so she spent the day playing with Nevan. Lightning pulled back into the driveway of the Cozy Cone at sunset, after a long afternoon of practice for the upcoming race in Las Vegas that weekend. He was about to check on Sally when he heard the phone ring in the lobby. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get to it, he stopped on his way through the lobby to answer it. "Cozy Cone- I mean, hello?" 

"Is Sally around?" The voice on the other end of the phone asked.

"She's not, she's... putting Nevan to sleep, I think." Lightning said, trying to think of an excuse. He didn't want to say she was sick.

"Oh okay. Who's this that I talking to?"

"This is Lightning, I'm her boyfriend."

"I'm Elijah, Nevan's dad."

_Sally's twin? _Lightning thought. "Oh... well I can go get her if you want."

"No that's okay, you don't have to. Just tell Sally I'll call her back tomorrow." He hung up the phone and went over to Elle, who was waiting for him. "There, feel better now? He's doing fine." He said, kissing her. "So where were we?"

"You talked to Sally?" She asked, pulling back a bit.

"Not Sally, her boyfriend. He said Sally was putting Nevan to sleep."

"Sally's boyfriend... you said Sally was dating a racecar before, didn't you?"

"Yeah, she has been since... well since I started talking to her again. Lightning ...what?" Elijah asked, trying to read the look on her face.

"Lightning McQueen? Hold on, you mean to tell me that LIGHTNING MCQUEEN has Nevan?"

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Okay, so this was originally supposed to be one chapter, but it was going to end up ridiculously long, so I've split it. This means that updating should be quicker, as I already have more written and also I'll be on spring break next week. **

**So…reviews anyone:)**


	5. The Next Generation Part 2

**Okay, first I have to say… 17 reviews!?! That's AWESOME! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. **

**I would also like to really apologize for the lack of updates recently. University for me had been REALLY screwed up this term (like, going to have to go and formally fight for marks because… eh not getting into it) but long story short, here it is! Finally. **

**I also want to thank It'sSalsaTime for constantly asking me when I am going to update. Her constant asking showed that she was really interested in where this was going, which is great to see as an author. And Reiji, you will see more of Flo and Ramone in this chapter too, which I know you've been waiting for for quite a while! **

**Disclaimer: All original characters seen or mentioned in this chapter are owned by me, except for Nevan is owned by Twin-One.  
**

**EDIT: Upon further reflection on the last 2 scenes in this chapter, I have rewritten 1 scene and made some minor edits to the final scene. See if you can spot em. **

****

So, anyway, picking up where we left off…

* * *

"Well, yeah, that's who I was talking to." Elijah still wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. "Why does it matter?" 

"You are not serious." Was all Elle said in reply. She pounced on the remote that was near them and flipped through the channels until she found RSN. A NASCAR commercial was on, advertising an upcoming race in Las Vegas that weekend.

"Since when do you follow NASCAR?" Elijah asked, still confused.

"Since I was stuck at home for two months on garage arrest with nothing to do but rot my brain on tabloids and TV!"

"Okay, but-"

"Sssshhhh, listen." Elle cut him off as a Rusteze ad came on.

"_YESYESYES! I'm Lightning McQueen and I use Rusteze Medicated Bumper Ointment Rear End formula..." _

The two cars exchanged glances. "This guy?" Elijah asked. "Doesn't seem that bad, just hyped up."

Elle rolled her eyes. "Keep listening." Sure enough, there was more on Lightning and last years Piston Cup Championship following the commercial break.

A segment featuring Lightning McQueen came on, as he emerged from the crowds after the three way tie. A Japanese import car was interviewing him. Finally, Lightning spoke:

"_Oh, Kori.. taking the race by a full lap? Where's the entertainment in that? Nah, I wanted to give the folks at home a little sizzle..."_

"Throwing a race for entertainment value? Seriously?" Elijah asked sarcastically.

"Seriously!" Elle answered, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice and taking his question literally. "Okay, now do you see why I could be just a little bit worried? Someone like him and a 4 month old, namely OUR 4 month old, worries me just a bit."

"Oh come on, we left Nevan in Sally's care. Tell me, are you that really that freaked? Or are you just looking for something to worry about?" Elijah asked, maneuvering closer to her again and turning off the television. "Relax..."

* * *

"Who was that?" Sally asked, appearing in the doorway.

_What the- _Lightning jumped and turned around quickly. "Hey, how'd you get over here?"

"Just put myself in neutral." She said, giving him a small smile. "Figured that out earlier - Nevan was getting bored so I brought him in here to find something to play with, and there were a few guests that arrived around then too. Besides, by the end of the afternoon I was getting kinda stir crazy just staying in the cone."

"Oh, I didn't think- um, that was your brother on the phone. I told him you were putting Nevan to sleep, I didn't want to tell him that you were sick."

Sally smiled. "Probably for the best. Ironic though, considering he's a doctor."

"He is?"

"Yeah. That's what he got called away to so suddenly, apparently it was some medical conference."

"So he's a doctor and you're a lawyer." Lightning said with a smile. "Nice."

"Yeah." Sally said with a roll of her eyes.

"So... Elle's a doctor too?" Lightning asked, breaking the silence.

"No, a psychologist. I didn't know she was practicing though. Elijah said it was something that they both got invited to, so that's why we have Nevan."

Lightning nodded, understanding now.

The two made their way out of the lobby and back towards the cones. "Um,a little help here?" Sally asked. She was backed partway up the ramp to the cone, but without any engine power she wasn't able to go any further. Gravity soon won out and she began to slide the rest of the way down the ramp, stopping inches away from Lightning. They both broke into a nervous chuckle.

"Being sick sucks, doesn't it?"

Sally nodded, looking down at the ground.

"It's okay," Lightning said as his bumper made contact with hers. "Doc said the worst of it should be over by now." Their lips were somewhat offset in this contact, but that didn't stop Lightning from trying to kiss her once he had her completely backed into the cone.

"I... um, can we hold off on this until tomorrow?" Sally asked, shifting away from him a bit. "Just... give me a little more time to recover."

"Okay." He moved slightly, giving her a quick kiss on the fender instead. "Feel better."

"Thanks." Sally said, smiling back and leaning against him slightly.

The quiet moment between the two was, however, quickly put to an end as a shadowy figure caught Lightning's eye. Soon Fillmore emerged form the darkness and could be seen. "Fillmore." He said.

"Hey, Lightning. Sally," Fillmore said, in his usual mellow tone. "How ya feelin?"

She gave him a weak smile. "Oh, you know, could be better."

"You want to try some organic fuel?"

She and Lightning looked at each other. "Sure." She said. "May as well see if I can tolerate it any better; I'm starving."

Fillmore nodded. "For sure. Should be easier on your tank then regular stuff."

"Okay, I'll try it. I don't need very much, just a gallon or two."

Fillmore nodded lazily and disappeared back across the street, into his geodesic dome. He returned a few minutes later, with a container of organic fuel.

"Thanks, Fillmore." Sally said as the VW bus turned to leave. She turned back to Lightning, who was giving her a skeptical look. "What? I AM starving, that should be a good sign, right?"

"Drink it slowly." Lightning advised. "The last thing you want to do is make yourself sick again."

Sally nodded, taking a sip of the fuel. To her surprise, it seemed to go down alright. She took a few more sips, before pushing it away. "That's enough. I'm hungry, but I don't want to make myself any sicker. Lets just go to sleep."

"Okay, night." Lightning replied, watching her settle down on her axles as he did the same.

* * *

**2 Days Later...**

"Sally, how are you doing today?" Doc asked as he drove up to the couple, who were busy playing with the baby Porsche.

"Good, I'm good. Feeling better." She said, turning her attention from Nevan briefly.

"Does that mean I can leave you overnight?" Doc asked.

"Of course, I'm fine. Perfectly healthy." She said.

Lightning nodded in agreement. "It's true Doc, she's been okay for a couple of days now."

"Yeah." Sally said, turning to face Lightning. "Good luck tomorrow." She said, giving him a kiss goodbye. "You know we'll be cheering you on."

* * *

**Race day...**

"Come on Nevan..." Sally said, trying to coax the fussy infant back into his bassinet. She could tell he was getting hungry but Lightning's race was going to start in five minutes, and she said she'd be over to Flo's to watch the race th everyone else. _Please... I don't know what it is but I really don't feel up to this right now..._ She sighed. "I'll give you your bottle when we get to Flo's-" She stopped short as she felt the same nauseous feeling from a few days before suddenly return to her tank. "Oh not again." was all that she was able to get out before she started to vomit again. _Ugh, gross... and Doc's not even here. Great. _She thought as she tried to clean the mess up quickly.

By this timeNevan was beyond just being fussy and was starting to cry, demanding attention"Fine, fine..."She sighed, stopping what she was doing and sticking the bottle in Nevan's mouth. He looked up at her, happy and oblivious. He dropped the bottle and pulled himself up on the side of the bassinet with his front tires, reaching out with his tire and touching her fender. Sally smiled back, reaching up and touching her tire to his. It was strange; the little car had almost made her forget her own problems for the moment. "Silly Nevan... come on, lets go see Lightning race." She said, before pulling out of the cone with him.

"Well there you are. Thought for a moment that you were going to miss the race." Flo said teasingly as she saw Sally approach. Red, Lizzie and Sheriff were parked around the television set out in the middle of the café, awaiting her arrival as well.

"Sorry, sorry..." Sally said as she pulled into the cafe, looking stressed. "Nevan insisted on being fed before I could get over here. How much of the race did I miss?" She asked.

"What'll it be honey?"

The thought of fuel made Sally's tank lurch uncomfortably. "Oh, um, nothing, Flo, I'm... I'm good."

"You sure? You look anything but." Flo asked, eyeing her closely.

"I'm fine... just worried. You know, the usual... Lightning and his race." Sally said, trying to think of an excuse.

Flo nodded. "Alright, you let me know though."

"So what were you saying about a cruise?" Sally asked, referring to the conversation that they were having when she arrived.

"This weekend, to celebrate the fact that these two have been married for 40 years." Lizzie said, referring to Flo and Ramone.

"Whoa, 40 years?" Sally asked incredulously, looking from Lizzie to Flo.

"Yep, March 25th, 1966." Lizzie replied. It amazed both younger cars how Lizzie's mind was still sharp as a tack when it came to dates.

"But you and Ramone aren't very old... how is that possible?" Sally asked, turning to Flo.

"Well, we got married in our teens and we're in our 50's now, so ... it's been 40 years. I can hardly believe it myself." She said, sounding almost modest now, not her usual outgoing self. She continued arranging the oil cans near them.

"Look, there's your sexy hotrod." Lizzie interrupted, motioning to the television set with her tire.

Sally smiled as she watched Lightning leading the pack of cars on the racetrack. Going into the tenth lap, Lightning appeared to be off to a good start - he seemed to have a stronghold on the lead spot, with all 42 vehicles behind him edging their way back and froth, impatiently looking for an opening to break out of their pack. the TV could be heard loudly, as Bob Cutlass and Darrel Cartrip bantered back and forth over the race.

"_Lightning McQueen is off to an amazing start this season. Despite the fact that he's got a whole new group of rookies to contend with this season, he seems to have his hood on straight." _

"_Look at that smile for the camera - there's the typical Lightning McQueen charm that we're accustomed to both on and off the track. This is why he's got the female fans throwing themselves at him." _Darrell Cartrip quipped.

"_I don't know Darrell, the former rookie's driving style is very much the same as before but I still have to say there's something different about McQueen this season. We're seeing a more refined Lightning McQueen for sure. He knows what he wants and he's going after it, but it's not all for show anymore." Bob replied. _

On the track, the racers, most notably, Chick Hicks, could hear the announcements. "Oh, it's all about you huh McQueen?" Chick asked, coming up beside him. "It's the Chick era now!" He shot ahead suddenly.

Lightning made an angry face and put on a burst of speed, overtaking Chick and cutting him off.

"_Look at this Bob, Chick's coming up on the inside, and Lightning slams the door on him. Whaddya know folks, it's early in the race but it looks like Lightning is going to strike again!" _

"_Well Darrell we'll have to see if he can hold onto this lead position... it's still early in the race yet. Another 250 laps - anything can happen." _

* * *

**The Next Day…**

Sally looked up from the desk and smiled at the sight before her - Lightning and Nevan were pulling a cone back and forth between them, Lightning let go of it suddenly, sending Nevan recoiling back into the rest of the pile. Sally and Lightning both paused, waiting for him to scream, but the little car was unfazed by this, and stretched out his axles to flip himself back over.

"What's up with his tires?" Lightning asked, as he watched Nevan fumble with the cones more than usual.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, coming over to the two.

"Look, don't they seem, I don't know, smaller or tighter or something?"

"Let's see..." Sally said, pulling one of Nevan's tires closer to her. "It's okay sweetie, just stay still..." She told him as he tried to pull his axle back and wriggle away from her. Lightning put a tire around Nevan to help keep him still as Sally moved his wheel back and forth. "You're right, he's growing out of his tires." She said, looking up at Lightning.

He gave her a perplexed look. "How does a car grow out of tires?"

"Their rims grow. It also explains why he can flip himself over so easily, his axles are probably growing as well. Lets go see if Luigi still has any baby-sized tires around."

"You're going to get him tires?"

"Well yeah, we can't just leave him in ones that are too small for another ten days. Come on."

* * *

"Sally, Lightning!" Luigi looked at the two cars, greeting them with his usual flair and enthusiasm. "What brings you here?"

Sally moved to reveal Nevan behind her. "We think his tires are too small."

Luigi drove around to see Nevan playing in his bassinet and he watched as she pulled Nevan out of it, and held up one of his tires with her own. "See?"

"Si." Luigi said. By this time Guido had joined the group. He stretched a measuring tape across Nevan's tire while Luigi inspected it closely, as they exchanged the odd statement or two in Italian.

Luigi finally turned to Lightning and Sally. "Yes, you are right. His tires, they are-a too small. You see, his rims are 4 inches wide but his tires are made for 3 inch rims. Guido," Luigi turned back to the forklift, "Go check what we have for baby tires."

Guido's face brightened. "Okay." was all he said as he turned and retreated into the other part of the shop. About ten minutes later he returned, only to speak in Italian.

Luigi listened intently, then turned to Lightning and Sally. "I only have whitewall baby tires. Will that do?"

"That'll be fine." Sally said.

"You don't think your brother and sister-in-law would mind?" Lightning asked, turning to Sally.

Sally shrugged. "Retro is in."

"Pit stop!" Guido exclaimed happily, holding up the air wrench.

"No air wrench Guido. It'll scare him." Luigi advised. "It'll take more time, but do it manually."

Guido nodded and went over to the baby car, who looked up at him with big eyes.

Luigi watched as Nevan started to squirm and whimper as Guido began to loosen the bolts on his rims. Guido paused, not sure of what to do. "Continue, Guido." He advised. "It's okay, You're not hurting him."

"It's okay, we'll keep him busy." Sally said to Guido. She managed to hold Nevan's attention by making faces and playing with him, successfully taking his mind off his tires.

Guido looked at Luigi as he finished Nevan's last tire and said something in Italian, making Luigi smile.

"Si." Luigi turned to Sally. "Guido say that you're very good with the baby."

"Oh... thanks." Sally smiled, looking at the tiny modern shaped car with whitewall tires. She watched as Nevan extended his axles slowly, then curiously stuck one tire in his mouth.

"Radiator Springs looks pretty good on him, wouldn't ya say?" Lightning said, observing Nevan's reaction to the new tires. "I'd say he likes them."

"I'd say so. So, Luigi, what do we owe you for the tires?" Sally asked.

"No no no, nothing, it's on the house."

"You sure? Tires are tires-"

"No, for Nevan, free." Luigi insisted, with Guido nodding after him. "I will hear no more of it." He said flatly, shooing her away.

* * *

**4 Days Later...**

"I think we're running out of formula." Sally said, trying to force the last of the liquid out of the bag and into a bottle. "Here, give this to Nevan... I'll have to go find some more before his next feeding."

"Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know, next town over? Maybe to Kingman if there isn't anything there."

"You're heading back towards Motor Corner?" Lightning asked skeptically. "Something tells me that's not such a good idea."

"Heh, right, I'll go towards Flagstaff. Most of the other towns that way are bigger and have younger cars, they'll have infant formula." Sally said. She kissed Lightning on the fender before turning to leave. "I shouldn't be too long, maybe an hour or so. Bye."

"Wait, wait Sally!" She could hear Lightning yelling as she turned out of the driveway.

"Yeah, what is it?" She asked, turning around.

Lightning motioned to the phone. Sally nodded and went back into the lobby.

"Hey sis."

"Hey... where are you? Back on the mainland yet?" She asked.

"Actually that's what I wanted to ask you about... we're in Scottsdale. How far is Radiator Springs from here?"

"Radiat- you're coming here?" Sally asked, her eyes wide. "Um, well.. we're about 3 hours north of where you are now, about halfway between Flagstaff and Kingman. There's an exit off the I-40, it shouldn't be too hard to find now. " She exhaled nervously.

"Okay, guess we'll see you in 3 hours then."

"...Sal, you okay?" Lightning finally asked.

She nodded, still looking stunned. "They're coming here. Elle and Elijah are coming here."

* * *

"Is that... Sally?" Flo asked, looking down the road. Looking down the road she saw a blue blurry shape followed by a silver shape, but she was sure the resident Porsche had returned to town already.

"Yeah?" Sally asked, driving up beside her.

"Oh, you're here. Looks like customers then."

Sally moved out into the roadway to get a better view, then broke into a smile. "No, I'll be right back." She said, speeding off down the road before Flo could respond.

Flo watched as Sally went up to the two cars. A seemingly positive reunion appeared to take place at the end of the road. The next thing she knew, all three were coming back towards town and into sight of the rest of the residents of Radiator Springs, inaudibly talking amongst each another.

Ramone came out of the body shop and drove up beside Flo. "Whats going on?"

"I don't know why I didn't see it before. They're twins. Sally and her brother. She and Nevan look exactly alike, now I can see why." Flo said.

Once they got to the cafe, Sally was the first to speak. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my brother Elijah and my sister in law Elle. They're Nevan's parents."

After a few minutes of introductions and conversation between the cars, Sally pulled Lightning aside behind the cafe. "So... what do you think? Things going well?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course. Why are you worried?"

"Well... I don't know, I guess in a sense this is you meeting my family." _Or all you're probably going to meet of it, _She thought. "So yeah, I guess I was a little worried."

"They're cool. But... I don't know, Elle seems... I'm not sure, it's like she doesn't know what to make of me. You said no one that you knew really followed the Piston Cup?"

"No, they don't. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Trust me, she's the sweetest

car you'll ever meet."

* * *

"That is an awesome run." Elle said, looking back down the road at how far they'd come up.

"I know. Lightning and I come up here all the time." As she mentioned him, Lightning's words resonated in her mind from earlier. "Speaking of whom... what do you think of Lightning?" Sally asked innocently.

"Lightning? He seems nice - surprisingly so."

"What do you mean, 'surprisingly so'?" Sally inquired_. Maybe Lightning was on to something..._

"It's just that... I never could envision you going for the racecar type. Especially the arrogant racecar type."

_Arrogant racecar? _Sally was surprised that Elle had heard of Lightning. Neither Elijah nor Elle were into racing really, unless it was Le Mans or some other race on a European circuit.She smiled to herself. "Yeah, believe me, no one was more surprised then me when it came to Lightning. I hated him when I first met him... couldn't stand him, then as the days passed, I don't know what really happened - I started to see a different side of him and the next thing I know I'm hood over wheels in love. How do you know about Lightning anyways? I didn't think anyone would..."

"When I was pregnant with Nevan I went into pre-term labor at around 7 months. They put me on some kind of garage arrest, so I was stuck with nothing to do for another 8 weeks until I carried him to term. After I'd read everything there was only tabloids and TV left. I started watching the races and the Piston Cup Championship, so yes... I knew of Lightning McQueen by the end of it all."

"Oh, wow." Sally said. "I think that would make be crazy."

"Yeah, not to mention no sex, no anything... I almost did go crazy by the end of it." Elle said. "He was worth it though."

"I know... well, I mean- yeah, that's gotta be something that is hard to juggle with the baby... It took Lightning, like, a week to convince me to sneak off into another cone while Nevan was asleep." Sally said with a smile.

"I wish... if only it were that simple. Elijah works hundred hour weeks then when he's at home he barely has time to sleep, let alone see me and Nevan. So yes, you are so right. We definitely... enjoyed having the time to ourselves, I'll say that." Elle said, smiling. "You know, I missed you, Sal-girl. I missed having you around to talk to... where all of us go so far back, it just kinda doesn't seem right now having you around."

"I know. Well, now I know. But... I'm only a phone call away." Sally said. "Come on, lets go back. It's Flo and Ramone's 40th anniversary, I have no doubt that this will be an interesting night."

* * *

"Wow." Elijah said, as the two cars looked down at Radiator Springs from Wheel Well Motel. "I can see why you love this place so."

Sally smiled, "Yeah."

"Better view than from Mulholland Drive I'd say." Elijah said, as they watched the lights of the town come on in the distance.

"More memorable than any experience had at that lookout point off of Mulholland drive." Sally said, smiling to herself.

"Heh, okay, I think I'll leave that one alone. Look... I don't pretend to know why you left, or why you're here, but you were - and still are - missed."

Sally looked down at the small town. She didn't know what to say. "Yeah, okay." She said, sounding vaguely reminiscent of Lightning that first night he'd stayed at the Cone, after she had called him out on his possible deception of Mater. _Say something... deflect the next inevitable question of 'why did you leave?"_ Her mind screamed. "You really didn't tell anyone that you found me? Just Elle? Not even..." She trailed off, not wanting to say the name out loud.

"Marco? No... besides, we're not exactly friends anymore."

This revelation hit Sally harder then she cared for it to. Aside from Marco being her boyfriend, and a long term boyfriend at that, he was also Elijah's best friend. "I'm.. sorry. " She said remorsefully. Tears stung her eyes but she held them back. Now she understood why brothers get angry when you started dating their friends.

"Don't be. You're my sister, I'll take your side over his any day."

Sally nodded, concentrating on the tiny town in the distance. "We should go back. The cruise will be starting soon." She reversed back onto the road with Elijah following her.

The two Porsches made it back to town just as the cruise was starting. "Hey," Elijah said, stopping short. "Hold up a second."

"Yeah, what is it?" She stopped and turned to face him.

"Sally, this is your life now. If this is where you're happy, this is where you should be. Elle and I both understand that. Neither of us would ever... betray your confidence when it comes to Marco or Mom and Dad."

She nodded. "Okay." she said, starting off again. "I trust you." Sally said, as they rounded the corner at the courthouse.

"Hey." Sally said, as Lightning approached her. "Wanna cruise?"

"Of course Stickers. Let me just find Flo and Ramone first, wish them a happy anniversary... then I'm all yours." She said in a slightly seductive tone.

"I'll be waiting." He said, watching her as she drove across the street.

Elijah and Elle looked around at the older cars around them. "38 years to go, think we'll make it?" Elle asked, nudging Elijah beside her.

"Sure. " He replied, driving around in front of her. "The first two have been pretty good, as far as I can tell."

Elle smiled, before driving forward and kissing him. "Lets cruise."

"Wow this is old." Sally said, pausing near Lizzie's radio as the song came on.

Lizzie nodded. "Old country duet. Those two loved it." She said, looking over at the couple, watching the looks on their faces as they recognized the song.

"Is this..." Flo asked, turning to her husband.

"It is, baby." Ramone said, nuzzling up against her.

The two of them began to sing the song together. "No we're not the jet set, we're the old Chevrolet set, but ain't we got love..."

* * *

**I know a lot of you were expecting to find out whether or not Sally is pregnant in the conclusion to this chapter. So to those who now want to hurt me very badly because you still don't know – don't despair! It will be explained in time. **

**Reviews? **


	6. The Newcomers

**I'm back, finally… I apologize again about the lack of updates and even reviews recently - work has been crazy busy, but here is Chapter 6 which I know you've all been waiting for by the amount of PM's I've received asking me if I'm continuing or not with this story. The answer? OF COURSE! Thank you to EVERYONE who's left me a kind review or PM on the last chapter, I haven't even gotten a change to respond to PM's, but I will soon as well :)**

**WARNING: In the words of The-Aryan, thar be icky in here. Right off, about 2 lines below where you're reading now. Just giving you squeamish folk a heads up ;) **

* * *

**Radiator Springs, Cone 6, Saturday night...**

"Mmm, Lightning..." Sally said, with Lightning underneath her. "I like how you-oh!" She giggled as she felt him stop what he was doing briefly to nuzzle her undercarriage then gasped as he started again, trying to move in a way that would bring her frame closer to him. "This is so good..."

Lightning smiled. He knew she was close - he'd done this to her plenty of times before, and knew exactly what to do to send her over the edge...

"Stickers..." Sally started to say, her words disintegrating into moans as he continued. _Oh... I have THE best boyfriend ever... _In the midst of everything, something caught her attention. The sound of a horn, pulling her from the world she'd gotten herself lost in. She didn't know why she opened her eyes, but as she did her worst fears had been confirmed. "No... no..." She started to say, her voice suddenly sounding more defined.

_No? Usually by now she's saying just the opposite... _Lightning wondered. "What is it?" He finally asked.

"No, not now, _please _not now..." Sally said earnestly. The honking had been two cars inside the lobby. _What perfect timing... ugh. _Sally sighed. "Customers, what else could it be?" She said, answering his question. "You're going to have to put me down." She said frankly.

Lightning complied and moved out from beneath her. Sally turned to face him, still out of breath. "I'll be back." She said, taking a second to try and compose herself before leaving the cone.

* * *

Sally retuned to the lobby, only to be greeted by two identical Mazda Miatas. "Hello." She said and gave them a smile, hoping it wasn't too obvious. "Welcome to Radiator Springs." She said unsure of what else to say, her mind still blank from the events before.

"Radiator springs, see? We're finally here, we've only been driving forever." One girl said to the other.

"Whatever. Can two cars fit in 1 cone?" One of the twins asked.

"Um, yes." Sally said, still feeling her engine running hot from before.

"Just ask her." One twin said to the other. "Come on." She insisted urgently.

"Okay, okay." Mia whispered back, noticing Sally looking up at them. "Is... is Lightning McQueen around?"

_Oh great, fangirls?_ Sally wondered. Before she could answer, Lightning had appeared, immediately capturing both girls attention. _Lightning, what are you doing? _Sally asked herself in dismay as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. _Now I'm never going to get him back into that cone..._

"Lightning!" The two Miatas squealed and drove over to him, leaving Sally where she was, parked in the middle of the lobby.

Lightning looked up at Sally watching the three red cars. "Hey Mia, Tia, this is my girlfriend Sally." He drove out from in between them and parked beside Sally.

"Girlfriend?" Mia asked, looking at the couple.

"You mean the rumors are true?" Tia asked

"They are." Lightning said, looking over at Sally and smiling as the twins looked on almost in disbelief. "We're very happy together."

What happened next Sally really wasn't expecting - Lightning drove towards her and gave her an enthusiastic kiss in front of Mia and Tia. She was caught a bit by surprise but kissed him back, returning the same enthusiasm. _Was that really necessary?_ She wondered as Lightning pulled away. She smiled at the twins and quickly went back to the desk, pulling out one of the garage door openers. "So will that be one cone or two?" She asked.

"Just one. We can share." Mia spoke before her sister could say anything.

"Okay, here you are." Sally led the two cars outside to a cone a few doors down from the one that she shared with Lightning. "Have a good night." She said, giving them as sincere a smile as she could muster. "How old are they anyway?" Sally asked, turning to Lightning as soon as the twins were safely in the cone and out of earshot.

Lightning made a face, trying to think. "They told me once... eighteen I think?"

"Eighteen." Sally repeated.

"Well yeah, that's what they told me." Lightning edged his way closer to her. "Now can we go finish what we started?"

* * *

**20 minutes later... **

"This has never happened to me before!" Lightning cried in frustration, with Sally parked beside him. "I know most guys say that it never happens to them, but I'm really serious - it hasn't!"

"It's okay Stickers." Sally said, touching his fender with her tire sympathetically.

"It's not okay. It's not like I don't want to have sex with you, I really want to, but I can't!" He sank down on his tires, looking somewhat defeated.

"Look, it's not a big deal, really. It has been kind of a screwed up night for both of us, it's okay if you can't get back into the mood. Come on, Lets just call it a night." Sally kissed his fender and moved to hit the light switch with her tire. She returned to her spot and pressed her frame against his.

Lightning sighed, wide awake in the darkness. He had a strange feeling that sleep was not going to come easily to him tonight.

* * *

**1 Week Later...**

Flo waited somewhat impatiently as two of her customers counted out money to pay for the fuel they'd just consumed.

"Is that it? That can't be it... we've got to have more than that." Mia said to Tia.

"It's okay, I got it." Lightning said, as he noticed the twins frantically counting up coins to pay Flo.

"R-really?" Tia asked, looking up at him.

"Really. It's on me tonight." Lightning said, giving the two girls a smile.

"Thanks, Lightning..." Mia said. "I guess we owe you one."

"Don't mention it. You two must be really running low on money, gas is still only 29 cents a gallon here."

"Yeah. We are kind of... but we don't want to leave, not to mention, I don't think we have anywhere else that we can go."

"Maybe you could get a job?" Sally suggested.

"That is a good idea." Mia said, "because we have to pay you as well at some point."

"Don't worry about that just yet." Sally looked in Flo's direction. "Looks like you could use some help. They want to stay in town, would you hire them?"

"We have done waitressing before." Mia offered as Flo drove over towards the others.

"Sure. You know I'm busy. They can start as soon as they want to." Flo replied, before taking off again as a few more cars entered the cafe.

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lightning asked, noticing Sally axle deep in paperwork. "More lawyering stuff?" He asked with a smile, knowing she hated when he said that.

"Kind of, I just ran the twin's VIN numbers for Flo, she wanted to get their employment history and do a background check before she hired them." Sally said, purposefully not looking up from the forms.

"... what is it?" Lightning finally asked, sensing that there was something that she wasn't telling him.

"Come here." Sally motioned with her tire for him to come closer. "Look at this."

Lightning nodded and parked beside her, looking at both VIN numbers on the sheets. "They're one number off from each other." He remarked.

"Yeah, but look at the birthdate. They were born in 1990 - they're not 18, they're barely 16."

"Sixteen?"

"Well don't they seem kind of small to you? Makes sense, they haven't finished growing yet."

"I don't know, I just thought maybe they are just petite, you know, small for their age. Miata's aren't very big cars to begin with."

"Yeah, but why would they have lied?" Sally sighed, "I'm gonna go give this to Flo. You coming?"

Lightning nodded, before reluctantly following her.

* * *

Back at the cafe, Flo, Mia and Tia were parked with Flo, asking her questions about Motorama. "You were a show car? Kind of like a model now?"

"Well yeah, we were show cars, so we were models and performers. I left school in high school and toured with Motorama... we were all fun girls, there was such a bond there between all of us, up there performing every night, it was one of the best times of my life."

"Sounds glamorous." Tia said, intrigued. "How did you end up here?"

"Well..." Flo started, "When I first started as a Motorama Girl, I was only 16 was, one of the youngest. We had our, lets say... admirers, but I never really let them get too close - none of the girls did either. I guess we were towards the end of our first tour when our tour manager broke down here," She looked over to the body shop across the street with a bit of a smile on her face, "I drove in there and saw Ramone, it was love at first sight and what happened after that really couldn't be helped. The next day, I refused to leave with them and two days later, we were married."

"Aw, thats sweet."

"So you gave it all up for him?"

"I suppose... maybe it's not that easy to understand if you haven't ever-"

"Oh," Tia said, looking to Mia and smiling a bit, "We're, um, not."

"Not...?"

"Virgins. That's what you meant, right?"

"Tia..." Mia started to say through gritted teeth.

"Well, yes, that is what I meant when I said that I met Ramone. Sex before marriage wasn't that common around here then so we got married rather... quickly to avoid suspicion." She explained. "So, speaking of ending up here, have you two actually met Lightning before now?" Flo asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. Last season."

"Yeah... one of the Piston Cup races was in our city, and our parents wouldn't let us go so we snuck into it anyways. And," Tia glanced at her sister before saying any more, "we snuck into the pit area, and found Lightning. And then we..."

Mia sighed, taking over for her sister and continuing to recount the story. "... ended up in his trailer. And-"

"We didn't even mean for it to happen, it just did!" Tia said, interrupting her sister.

Flo nodded, prompting Tia to continue, before realizing what the red car was implying. "Wait a minute, you're not saying that-"

"Yeah, we were in there for awhile and we kinda... neither of us had done it before, so you know... Lightning was both of our firsts."

At the same time, Lightning and Sally drove into the cafe, causing both twins to turn so quickly that their tires screeched.

"What's going on?" Sally asked, but immediately wished that she hadn't.

"Nothing, nothing, we were just talking with Flo. Girl stuff... you know... just... yeah. " Tia said, faking a smile.

Sally eyed the two suspiciously. "Alright..." She gave the papers to Flo, who read them over quickly.

"You two are only 16?" Flo asked, looking up at the two. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, because-"

"I didn't know they were 16!" Lightning shouted, perhaps a bit louder than he

intended to, causing Sally to cast an inquisitive glance in his direction. "I-I mean-" Lightning stuttered, trying to think of an excuse for his outburst.

"You mean 15, at the time, and you probably didn't know that you were their firsts either. Am I right?" Flo asked, matter of factly.

"You had sex with them?" Sally cried, anger rising in her voice. "That's why you've been so nice to them, because you had sex with them?!"

"Sally..." Lightning started to say but stopped as she glared at him and turned to leave. "Wait, come back. Sally, you know I was a completely different car back then-"

"Yeah, you were, but seriously! They lost their virginity to you, how could you not have figured that much out!? No wonder they're here!"

"Why are you so upset about this anyway? It's not like I was your first."

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is? I don't get it-"

"No, Lightning, you don't." Sally said, shaking her hood before turning and speeding off in the direction of Wheel Well.

* * *

**Flo's Cafe, the next morning…**

Lightning looked down the road towards the courthouse expectantly from the edge of the cafe, hoping against hope that he would see Sally driving into town, no longer angry and ready to forgive him for whatever wrongs that he had committed.

Behind him Flo, Doc and Mater exchanged worried glances.

Doc sighed, unsure of how to get the racecars mind off of his girlfriend. "Just leave her be. You and I both know she goes up there to think, she probably just needs some time to cool off. Go ahead to the Butte, I'll meet you there in five minutes."

Lightning nodded sadly and left the cafe, riding lower than usual on his tires.

"He's really torn up about this." Flo observed.

"I know. Mater, " Doc addressed the rusty tow truck, causing him to turn and look at him. "Against my better judgment, I'm going to ask this. Take Lightning tractor tipping tonight. It'll keep his mind of Sally until she calms down and also keep him away from the twins so he won't be tempted to do any more damage to their relationship."

"Well sure!" Mater responded happily. "I tell ya's Doc, we haven't been tractor tippin' in sooome time. This'll be fun!"

"Right." Doc agreed. "I'll tell him to meet you at sundown."

"Sure thing Doc!" Mater called as he left the cafe.

Flo approached the older car, a shade of worry in her voice. "Do you really think Lightning would cheat on her?"

Doc sighed, turning to the show car. "Truthfully, no, but I don't want to take the chance. I'm the judge, I have a responsibility to maintain peace in this town if I can at all help it."

* * *

**Later that evening...**

"You and Miss Sally'll be fine, you just had a fight is all."

"I don't know Mater, she's really mad." Lightning said, examining the tall blades of grass in the field that were in front of his bumper. The last thing he wanted was for this to be the end of their relationship. He couldn't lose her, not over some stupid encounter that had happened long before she had known him.

Mater nudged him with his tire. "Come on, tractor tippin's fun, you'll forget all about this fight you had with Miss Sally by the time we're done."

"Right, lets go tip some tractors." He said unenthusiastically as he approached the herd.

* * *

"Ah, there you are." Flo said, as Sally pulled up to one of the gas pumps.

"Where are your new employees?" She asked, looking around for Tia and Mia.

"I gave them the night off to go into one of the cities. How was your night?"

"Slept alone and it felt great!" Sally said defiantly.

"Did it really?" Flo asked.

"Yes." Sally said, determined to keep up her guard, but she could tell that the older car didn't believe a word of it. "No..." She sighed.

"Come on," Flo said, motioning for her to come into the office with her. She took out two cans of gasohol from the refrigerator. "Tell me, are you really angry with Lightning for something he did before any of us even knew him?"

"Flo, I don't know, I'm just... argh! I guess I'm angry at myself for being angry for them... I feel like I'm supposed to be on Lightning's side, but the whole first time thing, any way you cut it, it's a pretty big deal. To most cars anyway, even the ones who try and downplay it."

"Oh I know it, I tore up my Motorama contract over it. When did you lose your virginity?"

"The night I got accepted to law school. At the time I was on top of the world, and my boyfriend and I decided to 'celebrate.'"

"So that made you how old, early twenties maybe?"

"No, younger than that... when I was the same age as the twins I had already finished high school. And when I applied to law school, I wasn't even finished my first degree so... 19 maybe? No, 18, I would've turned 19 a couple of months later." She said, making a face in her attempt to remember the timeline.

"Does some part of you wish Lightning was your first?"

Sally smiled. Such an interesting question, she noted, but not one that she didn't know the answer to. "No, not at all. I've had my own life back in California before here and experiences that I wouldn't trade that if I could to have Lightning be my first." _I sure hope he's the last though... _She thought. "But, that being said... there have only been 3, Lightning included." She self-consciously took a sip of the ethanol drink, feeling modest about revealing such information about herself.

Flo nodded. "Mmhmm. Only been Ramone for me. Even as a show car, I was one of the youngest, only a teenager. I never let anyone get too close. Wasn't ready to, until we came though here."

"Yeah, I've never had any kind of one night stand, the other two were both exes, the last of which I was with for 3 years. The first time you have sex with someone new it's always different, the first time you have sex off your tires-" She stopped short. _"That was… good…" She said, looking down at the black Audi beneath her. She attempted to move from the position they were in after they had finished, struggling to keep her balance on top of him, but soon felt herself sliding off of his frame. _

"_It's okay, I got you." He quickly put out his tire to keep her from falling off of him. _

_She smiled, feeling his tire against her side as she gave his frame a squeeze with her front tires. "You're too good to me. I love you, Marco-"_

"Sally... what is it?" Flo asked. She could tell something went through her mind, but she wasn't sure what.

"I-nothing. I should go." Sally said, looking somewhat distracted.

"But you've barely touched your gasohol."

"I know... sorry, Flo, I don't seem to have a taste for it, I guess I just wasn't in the mood to drink tonight. You're right, I shouldn't be mad, I have to find Lightning." She said, turning to leave before Flo could say anything else.

* * *

Sally approached the field with caution, finding the break in the fence and stepping over it as best she could. She followed their voices venturing deeper into the tall grass. A few hoots and hollers could be heard as Mater upended another startled animal. She shook her hood. _How was tipping over sleeping tractors funny? Boys... _

An angry bellow could be heard and both male cars turned on their tires and the high-pitched sounds of engines could be heard as they tried to speed through the grass and out of the field. Sally attempted to do the same, only to her horror she found that she was simply too low to the ground, preventing her from moving. They were coming closer to her, with the combine harvester close behind them, much too close for comfort. "Lightning? Lightning!" She cried, revving her engine hard, trying to free herself from the grass that was getting tangled around her axles.

"Sally? Mater, Sally's in here!" Lightning cried, panic rising in his voice. "We gotta do something!"

"I know! We're comin' Miss Sally!" Mater managed to extend his tow cable and throw the tow hook in the direction of her front axle, silently praying to the Manufacturer that it would catch and he could pull her to safety.

Sally cried out as she felt Mater's tow hook dig into her left front rim, but did her best to ignore the pain, after all it certainly was better than being subjected to the blades of the combine behind them. She felt Mater reel in his tow hook, and before long they had cleared the fence.

"Are you okay?" Lightning drove in front of her as Mater retracted his tow hook, freeing the Porsche from it. "Sally..." He trailed off, noticing a few tears roll down her hood.

"I'm sorry about everything, Stickers, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so mad, it happen long before I knew you-"

"It's fine, it doesn't matter anymore. I just need to know that you're okay."

"I'm okay, just shaken up." Sally sniffled, reassuring her boyfriend, despite the stinging pain in her front wheel. "Thank you, Mater." She drove over to the tow truck and kissed him on the fender, making his eyes go wide.

"Oh, well- you're welcome, Miss Sally." A smile returned to his face as he got over the shock of the gesture. "Ah it was nothin, I wouldn't have left ya in there. I-I- think I'ma turn in for the night, you two probably want tuh, you know, talk or something. Goodbye!" Mater called out as he sped off towards the junkyard.

As the two reached the entrance to the Cozy Cone, Lightning noticed that Sally's tire was running flat. "It's fine," she replied as he pointed it out, "I'll just sleep on it and go find Luigi in the morning to look at it."

"Well, Luigi hasn't closed for the night yet. We can go see him now."

"Yeah, can we?" Sally relented and followed Lightning towards the center of town. It was hurting more than she let on, and sure enough by the time they reached Luigi's she was limping and leaning against Lightning.

As she was up on the hoist, Luigi found the source of the flat, an air leak. "The tire, it isn't a-flat, see the rim is bent." Luigi said as he removed Sally's hubcap. "You will need a new rim. 18 inches, I have some in-a the back." Luigi drove off with Guido behind him.

Sally nodded. "That's why it hurt. Mater's tow hook got caught in it when he pulled me out of the field."

_New rim? _The thought of an engagement rim suddenly entered Lightning's mind as he was parked there near her, which he found to be a bit scary, no car had ever had him thinking in such a way before. He drove around her, taking her wheel in his, and kissing it.

Sally smiled, looking down at him. "You can't kiss it better."

"I know." He said as she reached out and touched his bumper affectionately with her damaged wheel. "Listen Sally... I don't know why I did what I did back then. You gotta understand, all my life these girls have been throwing themselves at me, even before I was a racecar - heh, you want to talk first times, I was practically raped the first time I did it. But you... you know, what we have, is kinda new to me-"

"Stickers-"

"It's true," Lightning continued. "Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of girls, girls like Mia and Tia, but I've never really had a serious relationship before. If I date someone it's only for a few weeks then as soon as her infatuation with me fades it's over. What made me want you so much is how much you didn't want anything to do with me when you first met me. You made me work to win you over, and that's why I never want to lose you. Mia and Tia may be here, but I love you and the last thing I'm going to do is screw that up."

At the other side of the door to the showroom, Luigi and Guido appeared. Guido put down the rim and stopped him by putting his arm out, and the two stopped short of the showroom.

"Heh, I think my, uh, 'technical difficulties' are over." Lightning said, suddenly looking self-conscious and lowering his frame to the ground.

Sally giggled, attempting to move closer to kiss him. "That's because make-up sex is even better than regular sex." Sally said, before their lips met.

* * *

**To be continued... in the next chapter... are Lightning and Sally really as unbreakable as they seem? **

**I'd write more in here but It's 1:30 in the morning, I'm going to sleeeeeeeeep. Night everyone and leave me lots of reviews to wake up to ;) **


	7. Race Your Way

**How awesome is this? I get to post a chapter of my story on the 3****rd**** anniversary of the date I joined Fanfictiondotnet! **

**I also realized when posting this that I may not have made the timeline of events too clear in the last chapter. Chapters 4 and 5 took make in March 2006 and it's now late spring/early summer in Radiator Springs. You'll need to know that for the next chapter after this one.**

**This chapter is basically a continuation of the last one. Lightning and Sally may have made up, but Mia, Tia and Sally are still somewhat at odds over Lightning. The events of this chapter are loosely based on the video game, but that's all I'm going to give you, the rest you'll need to read for yourself. **

**EDIT: I have done a slight rewrite of the end of this chapter. It just didn't come out exactly right in my opinion before. If you only want to see what's different at the end, scroll down to the last segment :)**

* * *

The next evening, various shouts could be heard from inside Cone 3. "How come you get to just blurt out everything that happened with Lightning? Isn't this kind of thing supposed to be private? Maybe I didn't want to tell, maybe I don't want this whole town knowing that I had sex with Lightning!" Mia raged on at her sister, who was parked on the other side of the cone, laughing and obviously not taking a word of her sister's outrage seriously.

"Why Mia, was it not good?" Tia asked facetiously. "It was good for me..."

"You don't care about anyone else's feelings but your own." Mia shouted back. She looked to be on the verge of tears. "I so hate you right now. Just get out of here, I don't want to see your face anymore!" She stomped on the button to open the door and pushed her sister out of the cone.

Tia looked surprised as she felt herself slide down the ramp. She really was serious. "Better stay away from any mirrors then." Was all that Tia could muster to say. She turned and drove off.

A few moments later, Sally looked up to see Tia in the lobby, looking somewhat distraught. "Can I help you?" Sally asked, looking up briefly from what she was doing.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you... um, do you have any cones left open for tonight?" Tia asked Sally meekly.

"Sure." Sally replied. "You need one for tonight I take it?"

Tia nodded and watched Sally as she busied herself behind the desk, not paying her much attention. "We're not whores." She finally said.

"I never said you were." Sally replied.

"What the-" Tia motioned to the back door of the lobby, which had been boarded up.

"Oh yeah. Renovations, we're going to make another office there so I don't have all this stuff out here." Sally said, motioning to the mess of paperwork on her desk. "Come this way." She said, heading towards the front of the lobby.

Tia nodded and followed her.

"Get in a fight?" Sally asked, as the two cars drove out the front and around the building.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

Sally shrugged a bit. "I just know." She said, deliberately avoiding answering to the question in its entirety.

"Yeah, well... Mia's mad that I told Flo about Lightning, if you must know. I think she's gonna be mad forever." Tia said, sounding a bit remorseful as she drove up the ramp into Cone 8.

"She won't." Sally said assuredly.

"Good night." Tia said, before closing the door to the cone.

"Night." Sally shook her hood and went back to the lobby.

* * *

Sally made her way over to Flo's the next morning to get her usual drink before going to watch Lightning practice. It had become a habit of theirs over recent weeks. As the Piston Cup season got underway, Lightning was finding himself pulled away from Radiator Springs more and more, so they had been trying to make the best of any short time they had together, even if it was watching Lightning go around Willy's Butte for what usually seemed like an eternity. It was early in the day but already she could tell by the way the sun was beating down on her paint that it was going to be hotter than usual.

Passing by the Curio Shop, she could see Lizzie parked outside on the porch, her radio turned to the same oldies station, singing along loudly to an old Connie Francis song. "Now I've got Heartaches by The Number, troubles by the score, everyday you love me less each day I love you more..." Some things would never change. Not to mention, the old gal did have a good singing voice.

Lizzie's singing faded into the background as Sally approached the cafe. No one was there but Mia and Tia, talking amongst each other and giggling. Neither twin was in their cones when she left, so she knew they would be there, but what she drove into was not something even she was prepared for. Obviously their fight was over, and they were now "reminiscing" about the good times they'd had...

"How did we ever manage to-" Mia started to say, attempting to stifle her laughter.

"Well, you know, if one of us was like kissing his mouth, and the other was-"

"Oh it's true! Lightning's... ego was so big he needed both of us to satisfy him." Both girls erupted into giggles as Mia said this.

_Oh no you didn't..._ Sally thought. She watched as Mia and Tia both came over to her. "I don't want gas." She said simply as Mia approached the pedal to start the pump. "You two better listen to what I have to say, because I'm only going to say it once. I don't ever want to hear you talking about my boyfriend - not yours - like that again, and secondly, here's how it really is: You two were, how shall we say, perhaps a little inexperienced, and well, lets just say, what it took two little girls to handle, I can handle just fine on my own."

Both twins were left speechless for a moment. "Hold on a second, do you think we honestly believe that with a tattoo like yours that you didn't have a wild side when you were our age?" Tia asked as Sally turned to leave.

"Yes I may have had a wild side back in LA but I wasn't promiscuous! Grow up and know the difference, you two." She gave them a glare before turning to leave again. She reversed away from the pumps, doing a quick 3 point turn as she left in the direction of Willy's Butte.

"Ahem." A voice came from behind the twins.

The two turned to see Flo parked behind them. Flo looked kind of... angry. "Listen girls, I have tried to be understanding about your... initial encounter with Lightning because I know what it means to you, but he is hers now. If all you've come here to do is drive a wedge between Sally and Lightning, I will fire you and kick you both out of town myself. Are we clear?"

"I haven't seen Sally get that angry with anyone before." Ramone commented, witnessing the scene unfold from inside the body shop.

"Neither have I but I can't blame her. She loves him and those two really must be getting on her last nerve."

* * *

"Hey." Lightning smiled at Sally as he came off the track. "Are you still up for that drive?"

"Of course, Stickers."

Two all too familiar voices came from behind Sally. "Actually... we were thinking that we'd like to take a drive with Lightning."

_What!?_ Sally felt her engine grow hot with anger._ They don't want a drive with Lightning, they just want to get back at me for telling them off! Ohh, I am so going to- _

"I'm not so sure that's such a good idea." Lightning started to say, looking over at Sally. It was obvious she saw through the twin's attempt to be friendly.

"You know what? I have a better idea. Lets settle this once and for all." Sally looked behind him towards the track.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Sally turned to the twins. "How about a little friendly competition? You really want your drive with Lightning? Let's race." She challenged, fully aware that the idea did not sound friendly at all.

Tia scoffed. "And WHERE would we race?" She asked.

Sally motioned to the dirt track at the end of the road.

"Dirt?"

"Oh, ew!"

"How much do you want this drive with Lightning?" Sally pointed out. "A little dirt won't hurt either of you."

"Sally, you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do." She replied. "So, this time tomorrow?" She asked the twins.

"Fine. We'll see you then." Tia spoke confidently for both of them, shifting around on her tires before making her way back to the cafe.

Mia followed her sister compliantly, but pulled Tia aside as soon as they got back. "Okay, are you blind? She's a Porsche! She's way faster than us, of course she's gonna win!"

"Well there's two of us, and one of her! She may be faster but I'm sure we'll beat her one way or another." Tia smirked.

* * *

A full moon and stars dimly lit the track at Willy's Butte. Lightning looked back towards the town, only to see the lights turned off and the sole traffic light shining green in the direction of Main Street. He figured it had to be at least past midnight, as he turned his attention back to Sally, watching her careen around the track. All he could see of her was headlights and the occasional brake lights as she approached the turns. He wasn't worried about Sally racing, or even took it as a show of one-upmanship. Racing was as much in her lineage as it was his. At this point, he could care less about the twins, he wanted to make sure Sally could hold her own on a dirt track.

"Don't be so scared when approaching that turn, you're braking too hard for it and you're going to skid too much. Just do it like you did, but put a little more speed into the powerslide."

"I've gone around there 50 times at 50 different speeds!" Sally exclaimed in frustration. "What more do you want?" _You make a horrid crew chief, you know that_? She wanted to say, but held her tongue.

"Well aren't you just little Miss Sunshine?" Lightning asked, referring to her angry outburst. "Look, it was your idea to come down here in the first place, you were the one who said you needed to work out."

"I know; I'm sorry... I'm just really tired. Can we please just stop for tonight?" Sally pleaded, touching the tip of her bumper to his.

"Look, I know you're tired. Just go around once more, I just want to make sure you've got that turn down. I don't want you going into the cactus patch, trust me babe it's not a pleasant experience. So, one more lap, do it for me, okay?"

"Okay. One more lap and that's it." Sally said, wearily turning and going back to the track. "I can do this." She said to herself as she accelerated from the starting line again. "Tomorrow's gonna be a no-brainer." She said, as she made her way around the track again.

"You think maybe when we get back-" Lightning started to ask as they left the Butte.

"Not unless you want me to fall asleep in the middle of it."

* * *

"Your competitive ways seem to be rubbing off on your girlfriend." Doc noted as the rest of the residents watched from the rise near the start of the track.

Lightning turned to face them. "I didn't put her up to this. She wanted to do it herself. I don't care who wins. If the twins win, fine, I'll go for a drive with them. Nothing's gonna happen. Because the more the twins want me, the more I just want her." He looked down at the track, watching Sally take the lead in the first lap.

"You sound serious." Doc said with a slight chuckle.

"I AM serious." Lightning said, determined not too look at either one of them, somewhat afraid that "I'm serious about my racing and I'm serious about Sally."

"Are you thinking of, you know, proposing to her?" Ramone asked, edging his way into the conversation.

Lightning sighed, watching the four cars about to take the track. "I don't know. I mean, I want to, but..."

"You just can't seem to get up the courage to do it?" Doc asked.

Lightning shook his hood. "It's not that, I just... I've only been with her since December so... 5, 6 months? Is it too soon? I don't want her to think I'm, you know, trying to push her back into the fast lane or anything like that."

"Why put a timeline on it, man? If you're sure she's the one, and you love her, then just do it." Ramone said. "You think too much."

"Yeah but... I don't even have an engagement rim yet. And worse still... what if she says no? " Lightning asked both of them.

"If she says no. She says no. It's not the end of the world."

"I just don't want it to be the end of this." Lightning said. The thought of Sally possibly saying no... he didn't even want to think about it.

On the track, Tia eyed Sally from her place at the starting line. The Porsche seemed confident enough, seemingly immune to the angry glares that she had been throwing her way. Mia was on the other side of her, staring at the rope that marked the starting line just a few feet away. Tia looked up to see Flo on the other side of Sally, watching the race.

"I don't know Tia... this dirt isn't like anything we've ever seen before. How are we going to know how to drive on it?" Mia whispered to her sister worriedly. She scuffed one of her front tires against the dirt, almost as if trying to get some kind of feel for it before she drove on it.

"Maybe we don't need to know how to drive on it. Maybe we just need-" Tia was interuppted by Flo coming down from the ridge. _Oh no, did Flo hear me? _She wondered for a split second, watching the show car come up beside her.

Sure enough, Flo had made her way to the starting line, inching her way in between Tia and Sally. "I'm racing too." She proclaimed. "Gonna have to make things even, two versus two. And besides, can't have a girls day without me!"

"O-okay." Sally said, a little confused. "If you really want to, thats fine with me."

Sheriff paced in front of the four cars, giving what had come to be known as his usual speech. "Ladies, this will be a three lap race. Sally and Flo will race against Mia and Tia. The first team to complete all 3 laps wins. There will be no bumpin', no cheatin', no spittin', no bitin' no roadragin', no maimin', no oilslickin', no pushin', no slowin', no backstabbin', no roadhoggin', and no lollygaggin'." He moved off of the road to the sidelines, sending Luigi forward to take his place.

"On your mark, get set: Uno for the money, Due for the show, Tres to get ready..." Luigi parked himself on the sideline, the Ferrari flag poised in the air. Guido watched happily beside him.

"Showtime." Flo said quietly, causing Sally to look at her and smile.

"Yep." Sally replied. _Okay, here we go... _She thought, readying herself for the flag to drop. _Come on Luigi, just do it!_

"...and quattro to... GO!" Luigi enthusiastically waved the flag.

All four cars took off in a cloud of dirt. _Yes... _Sally thought as they left the starting line, accelerating hard but effortlessly shifting though her gears and gaining speed quickly. _This is going to be a snap. _As she rounded the first two turns behind the Butte, she looked back out of her peripheral vision to see the Miata twins on both sides of her, and Flo close behind them.

Flo was amazingly fast for a car of her vintage. With a V8 engine, she gained speed slowly but consistently. Although Sally was in the lead, Flo was keeping a good pace with her by the end of the first lap. Mia was trailing the three others, still trying to test the dirt at a slightly lower speed. It was Tia was obviously the more reckless of the two on the track as well. She laughed evilly as she watched Sally expertly brake for the sharp turn near the cliff, but her laugh turned into a screech as she found herself hurtling out of control after neglecting to do the same.

Sally giggled a bit, watching her out of her rearview mirrors. _Won't make that mistake again,_ She thought. _Serves her right anyways_. The first lap was over, with Sally in the lead and Flo behind her. Tia and Mia were trailing the two older cars, and did not look happy about it. To Sally, it had been easy, the second however, she was surprised to find more difficult. _I'll be fine, the initial adrenaline rush has worn off... I'm supposed to feel the burn by now, right? _She kept telling herself as she rounded the track for the second time, successfully powersliding again through the third turn. _As Lightning says, just keep focused... _

_No more playing it safe, time to speed up..._ Mia shot ahead at full speed towards the Butte, overtaking Tia and also putting her in second place behind Sally. and although she made it around the broad curve with ease, but it was clear she wasn't expecting the consistency of the dirt to have such an effect on her ability to turn. _I won't make the same mistake Tia did, I just need to brake harder when that turn comes... _She thought butsoon found herself gaining more speed than she's anticipated on the straightaway before turn 3, and braked hard, putting herself into a spin and coming to a stop near the cliff. She seemed only slightly fazed and quickly steadied herself and started off again.

_Only one more to go... _Sally thought, switching gears yet again as she found herself pushing her own limits._ What is going on, I have to have more stamina than this... _Behind her, Mia was coming out of the turn faster than expected, quickly gaining back the ground she'd lost. Sally noticed in her side mirror Tia's smirk as she watched her sister quickly gain on the two older cars. _Come on Sally, you can do this,_ she told herself. She forced herself to put on an extra burst of speed, surpassing the Miata. The next thing she knew, Flo was coming up beside her on the straightaway. _What? Does that mean I'm slowing down, or is she speeding up? I don't know anymore... _Sally thought. It was getting harder to concentrate and everything was starting to go blurry on her. _Powerslide... now?_ Sally closed her eyes and hoped that she would make it around the curve. Mia and Tia were right behind them, and at this point, they could win. She opened her eyes to see Flo a fender length ahead of her, and the next thing she remembered was a crowd of cars cheering as Flo and Sally crossed the finish line, nearly tied.

"You alright sweetie?" Flo asked after they had pulled off the track.

"I'm not sure." She said, sounding winded. "I couldn't seem to go as fast as I normally can, and I know that was nowhere near my top speed. I barely beat them."

"You probably just overexerted yourself a bit. Take a breather, then you can go on your drive with Lightning. And don't worry, I may have won too, but I won't steal him from ya." Flo said with a bit of a giggle, but she could tell that the Porsche was still troubled.

"I don't know Flo, I'm still young, I could race much faster when I was on track in university. I just don't get it, no matter which gear I was in, I was nearly redlining the whole time today."

"But Sally, we won. You won." Flo said.

_Yes, I won my boyfriend back that I'd never lost in the first place_. Sally thought. _But still, it shouldn't have been so hard..._

* * *

"So... lets go take that drive," Lightning said, accelerating slightly on the dirt road as they watched the others leave.

"No... Lightning... wait..." Sally said weakly, coming slowly to a stop and causing Lightning to stop short.

"Sally? " Lightning asked, driving in front of her. "Sally, what is it?"

"I don't know... just so dizzy... please stay, don't leave me here..." She said, her world suddenly spinning and tilting in odd directions, causing her to lose her bearings. She tried to lean in the same direction, to stay what was as far as she could perceive, upright. Lightning quickly put a tire on the top of her fender to brace her from falling over.

"It's okay, I'm right here." Lightning looked up to see the other residents of the town already leaving the track. "Doc? DOC!" He shouted towards the older blue car that was trailing the crowd of cars. "I need some help here!"

"What happened?" Doc asked, driving over to them.

"I don't know, she just stopped driving!" Lightning said, sounding panicked.

"I think I'm going to faint." Sally said weakly.

"It's okay. Just calm down, take some deep breaths." Doc advised, before making his way to the rear of the Porsche. "You've overheated, it looks like you may have had a bit too much sun today." He said, after a quick inspection.

"Overheat- how could I have overheated from just being out here? I've been out in the sun this time of day all the time watching Stickers race, it doesn't make any sense-"

"But you haven't actually been the one racing out there yourself until now. You've overexerted yourself, whether you realize it or not. You need to get into the shade, get some fresh coolant into you, and get some rest. Put off that victory drive of yours until sundown. I'll get Mater for you."

Sally shook her hood. "No. It's only a short way to Flo's, I can make it." She jumped a bit, feeling Lightning's bumper come into contact with her rear. "You're pushing me?" She asked as she found herself moving.

"Well, you didn't want us to get Mater, so yeah, I am." Lightning said. _Did we practice a bit too much last night? I didn't do this to her, did I_? He wondered. "You'll be okay, okay?" He told her, but it sounded more as if it was to reassure himself than to comfort her.

The two stayed silent until they reached Flo's. Lightning watched as Flo brought Sally some ice-cold coolant, and watched the twins who were parked in the middle of the cafe, eyeing the couple with disdain. After a few moments, Lightning turned to them. "We're friends. Nothing more. Okay? Is that clear? " Lightning asked, a serious tone in his voice. "Maybe I didn't really explain myself enough when you both got here, but Sally's my girlfriend and... and, well, she's everything to me." He looked back to see Sally watching him, her eyes filled with happiness and love.

"That was... really sweet." She said, demurely playing with the straw in the coolant slush.

_Ramone's right, I should just do it. _Lightning thought."It's true. Just you wait until it gets darker and we get to take that drive." He replied.

**Later that evening...**

"Beat you again Stickers." Sally said, her speed dropping as the two approached their destination. "You really need to learn to keep up with me." She pulled into the drive of the Wheel Well.

"Well, we both know I let you win, couldn't have you overheating again like this afternoon." Lightning said, trying to play down his loss.

"If that's what you want to believe. Maybe you just can't take losing to a girl-" Sally teased, he words cut off as Lightning playfully kissed her. "Okay, what's with you tonight?" Sally asked, a smile on her face. "You're all over me more than usual."

_Uhh..._ Lightning's mind went blank. "I-I..."

"Not that I mind or anything." She kissed him back before driving across the road to the lookout spot.

Lightning followed, hesitantly parking himself beside her. _Sally... you... no. Sally, I've never felt like this about anyone- no that doesn't sound right either. As I said earlier, you're everything to me, will you- Sally, marry me! No, that's too direct, Sally-_

"Look at you. Lightning McQueen, lost in thought, really what could you be thinking so deeply about right now?" Sally asked, looking over at him and interrupting his thoughts.

Lightning turned to face her, his mind still racing a mile a minute. _Umm... think think think! No, don't think, just ask! I can't... _"You." He finally said.

"Me?" Sally asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh." Sally said, looking down at the cliff. "Well... I'm flattered. What were you thinking about me, if I may ask?"

"About... how the town's changed, how I've changed, and how so much of that has been because of you. I'm not the same car I was before. Like with the twins. I used to love to have them follow me around from race to race. But now... them, the sex, it meant nothing. It means nothing now." "It's you, it's only you. You're the only car I ever want to, you know, be with in that sense... and if you're the only one I'm ever with again, that's fine with me." Lightning said, with a serious look on his face as he found his speech somehow come to an end, the most important part still left unsaid.

"Okay, Lightning, I believe you. I know you won't cheat on me. Even before I raced Tia and Mia I knew." Sally said with a smile as she leaned up against him. "I guess we're pretty unbreakable aren't we?"

"We are." Lightning said, looking down at her pressed against him, wondering how he'd lost his nerve. _I'll do it another time, get an engagement rim the next time I'm out of town..._ "Lets go back to town."

* * *

**I know… I know… mushier ending than** **usual. Lightning will come to some resolution over this, I promise. I'm sorry I didn't get to review replies this time either, I usually wait until a few days before I post to do it but I just ran out of time this time. I'm going away on vacation tomorrow morning, and I'll be gone until Sept 10****th****, but don't worry, I MAY just get chapters 8 and 9 posted in that time period. Aside from Chapter 3 they are the ones I'm most excited about… it's going to be CHAOS I tell you! XD and I already have 2500 words done, so you know it won't be as long a wait as this time! **

**Also, look for deleted scenes sometime within the next week or two on dA! **


	8. Time Stands Still Part 1

**Happy New Year! -blows noisemaker- I spent New Year's in a Tiki hut on the beach drinking Pina Coladas, awesomely awesome. Again I apologize for my lack of updating these past few months, my final year of school has packed a lot more of a punch than I expected it to! I think everyone got slammed with schoolwork and other obligations this term :[ **

**Wow… I can't believe I actually started work on these next two chapters a year ago in Miami. Those of you who have been reading each chapter know that I've been withholding two pieces of information from you. The first is fairly obvious - whether or not Sally is pregnant. The second is not so obvious, but those of you who have been watching closely will notice that I have never specified how long ago Sally left California. There's a reason for this, read and you will find out. Chapter 8 sets the scene for the action in Chapter 9. **

**Possible warnings: adult themes and situations. **

* * *

"Oh, no..." Sally groaned as she opened her eyes. The nausea seemed to hit as soon as she woke up. _And here we go again, _she thought, reaching for the sick pan that was nearby. This was the fourth time this had happened in a week. She figured it had something to do with fuel, or filling up late at night. 

"_Are you sure that the twins aren't trying to give you low grade fuel or something?" Lightning had inquired the last time he'd witnessed this._ From then on Sally had attempted to make sure only Flo served her, but it was no use. _ What IS wrong with me? Waking up and puking all the time is really getting old... _she thought as she found herself miserably bringing up more fuel.

After glancing over at the clock quickly, Sally noticed that it was already 10 am. Lightning was not around - he'd probably been on the track for close to three hours already. _I can't stay in here all day. Guests will be checking out soon, I have to get up and get to work... _ After she was sure the nauseous spell had passed, she dragged herself out of the cone and drove into the newly renovated space that was now her office away from open concept of the lobby. Another day had begun.

By the end of the day, Sally was amazingly in a good mood. "Finally finished all that paperwork, throwing up every couple of hours really slowed me down but I managed to get something into me just now, come on let's go- Lightning?" Sally asked as she drove into their cone, only to find it empty. _Where was he? _Soon she could hear his voice in the distance, laughing.

Lightning had his trailer still behind the Cozy Cone but much farther back, across the street from the construction site that was to be the Lightning McQueen's Racing Headquarters. Cutting through the woods, she could easily see Lightning and Mack talking, parked near the trailer. Sally could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation from where she was.

"I've gotten used to you ... I've learned to stay away from your trailer when I hear certain things, as any rig does."

"Yep. When the trailer's a-rockin..." Lightning trailed off. and the two broke out in laughter.

Sally rolled her eyes. _That was never going to go away, was it?_ She listened on, wondering just what Mack was going to say about Lightning's encounter with his fans.

"Jeez, I mean, you were lucky I saved your bumper last time. Couldn't have you impregnating twins!" Mack laughed as he took another swig of the gasohol infused diesel.

Lightning replied with something that was inaudible. "... wouldn't have been too good for my image, would it?"

"That and you would've gotten yourself into a helluva mess!"

Sally made a confused face. They weren't talking about Lightning having sex with the twins, they were talking about... condoms? Initially, she shrugged it off - sometimes things were not how they looked, or in this case, sounded. _Eavesdropping on your boyfriend, don't you know better than that?_ She silently scolded herself. When had Lightning really given her a reason not to trust him? There was not really any point in staying where she was now, hidden amongst the larger of the desert's shrubery, so she carefully vacated her spot and turned back towards the road. _Condoms._She had to admit that she and Lightning had never actually used them. _The first time we had sex was kind of spontaneous, besides, I was put on implant birth control that lasted two years back in California. _She shook her hood at the memory._ I left LA and Marco a month later, what a waste- wait a minute, how long have I been in Radiator Springs...? If I left in 2004 and it's ...2006? How long have I been in Radiator Springs?!? _Before Sally realized it, she was gasping for air. The question echoed in her mind as she turned and sped back towards town, not caring whether they noticed her presence or not.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Lightning asked. Sally was in the midst of tearing apart the inner office of the Cozy Cone. 

"Looking for the deed to this place. I have no idea how long I've been in Radiator Springs. I-we... I need to figure out how long I've been here!" Sally cried.

"Why?"

"Just... because!"

"Well... can't you just get Doc to pull your medical records? If you said you woke up in the clinic, that'll tell you exactly when you got here."

"No, I don't want to do that yet." Sally said, panic resonating in her voice as she continued to rummage through the drawers of the desk.

"Well, why not?"

Sally spun around to face him, and Lightning could now see how upset she was. "Hey, what's wrong?" Lightning asked, now looking concerned. He'd never seen her like this. "Sally, just tell me."

Sally nodded quickly. "Okay, okay, where do I start?" She said out loud to herself.

"The beginning, I guess?" Lightning offered.

"Right." She looked at the floor, feeling almost helpless sitting in the mess of papers. "When I was in LA, before I left, I had a career to think about, one I'd been working towards for quite a while... I'd been with my boyfriend for a pretty long time, but both of us were working and trying to develop our careers and neither of us were in the position to deal with the consequences of any, um, accidents. So I was put on this form of contraception and-and for the time that I was on it... I wouldn't have my period every month but when the stuff ran out after 2 years, I would start having it again-"

Lightning gave her a weird look - this girl stuff was confusing the hell out of him. He still had no idea what she was trying to get at.

"Lightning, stay with me, okay? If I've been here more than 2 years, and I haven't- and we've been- there's a very good chance that I could be pregnant." Sally concluded.

_Wait a minute, what? A baby? No... no. No-no-no-no-no-no!!! She can't be... _ Lightning's mind was racing faster than he could form words. Somehow he managed to pull a smile across his bumper to hide how shocked he really was by this revelation.

Sally, however, was continuing in the same vein as before, still trying to reason things out. "I just can't remember... okay, it's May 2006... Elijah and Elle's wedding was New Year's Eve 2003, I was there for that, of course, but how far into 2004-I don't know!" She cried, panicking. "It's gotta be... I mean, it would explain why I've been sick too-"

"Sally, Sally, Sally, just... stop." Lightning said, not sure himself where he was going with this. "You... you don't know for sure, right?"

"No, I don't. But even with an educated guess, it's probably too late." She said, her voice cracking. "Lightning-" She started to say, trying to read the look on his face before he turned around and sped out of the lobby.

* * *

"Lightning, you in there?" Mack asked. Sticks and small twigs could be heard snapping as the semi circled the racecar's trailer, which was parked behind the Cozy Cone Motel in the woods. "You alright? What's goin' on kid?" 

"Sally."

"What about her? Something good, something bad?"

"She thinks..."

"She thinks what?"

"Mack, she CAN'T be pregnant! She just can't!" Lightning shouted almost desperately.

"She could be."

"Well, what am I gonna do?"

"Well, you're gonna stay and figure it out. It's not like you can leave, you've become too entwined with this town, and I'm not playing your crew chief again."

"I'm not thinking about leaving her." Lightning replied. _In fact, it's the opposite. I just don't know how to tell her..._

"You gonna stay here tonight or are you going back to the Cone?"

Lightning made an unintelligible sound of confusion.

"Alright... good night." Mack said, before driving away.

An hour alter Lightning finally had got up the strength to leave his trailer. Night had fallen, and he had a hard time finding his way back to the road. He more or less stumbled over some desert scrub brush and eventually found himself on pavement. He looked around, the blinking traffic light at Cross and Main Street was not far away. Yes, he was in the right place, although everything seemed to look different from his vantage point on the less traveled street. Taking a right at the intersection onto Main Street, he soon found himself at the entrance to a darkened Cozy Cone Motel.

Sally must've been too preoccupied to notice the time - none of the lights were on. As Lightning entered the Cozy Cone, he got the distinct feeling that he was not alone in the driveway. The sound of a familiar engine close by prompted Lightning to move forward slightly, and suddenly he was face to face with another vehicle.

"WHOA! McQueen! You shouldn't be sneakin' around in the dark without headlights, you nearly ran into me!" A familiar gruff voice proclaimed.

_Chick? Oh no, not Chick now..._ Lightning made a face in the dark. "Chick Hicks, what could you possibly be doing here?" he asked unenthusiastically.

"Just thought I'd stop by, check out this racing town you've rebuilt. Never took you for the small town type. Besides, where's this hot Porsche girl of yours?"

"Stay away from her." Lightning replied in as protective a tone as he could muster.

"Oh but McQueen, that's not the legendary hospitality this place is known for-"

Lightning slammed a garage door opener down on the desk, silencing him. "You want to stay here, you can. Just don't cause any trouble."

Chick mumbled something unintelligible and left the lobby with the remote, leaving Lightning alone with his thoughts, and to find Sally. He stood there for a moment, letting the silence of the night surround him, before he suddenly was able to make out the sound of steady breathing from the office behind him. Sally was still in there? Had she just heard everything that had happened? He turned and approached the entryway of the office slowly.

Lightning's heart fell as he took a closer look - Sally was still parked in the same place amongst the papers, asleep with the deed to the Cozy Cone beneath her left front tire. He couldn't see the date on the page but it was obvious she'd been crying - her hood was streaked with tears. "It's okay," He whispered to her. "I'm not going anywhere." He pushed a few pieces of paper near her off to the side and settled down on his axles beside her.

"Light- how long have you been here?" Sally said, blinking her eyes quickly as her eyes adjusted to the bright morning sunlight.

"All night."

She nodded slowly, and the two drove out of the office to find a garage door opener and a pile of money on the desk. "What's this?" Sally asked.

"Chick Hicks... he showed up late last night."

Sally sighed. "At least he pays." She said, gathering together the coins and bills and taking them off the desk. "Breakfast?" She asked.

Lightning smiled. "Sure."

The two drove over to Flo's cafe, side by side. "Good morning you two. Nice day isn't it?"

"It is." Sally said, smiling. It was the first time in a few days that she hadn't woken up sick. She drove over to the pumps first, with Lightning trailing behind her. He pulled up beside her and gave her a smile.

Doc emerged from his garage behind the clinic at the same time, joining the two in the cafe area. "Rookie, fill up and lets hit the track." Doc said.

"But-" Lightning started, looking at Sally beside him. _Already?_He felt bad enough about leaving her the night before, how was he going to make it up to her now if Doc was dragging him away?

"No buts. Race day's coming quicker and quicker. We have to win this one to get far enough ahead in points to have a strong lead over the others. Come on kid, practice!" Doc called out.

Lightning looked back at Sally worriedly.

"Go on, I'll be fine." Sally replied, motioning for him to leave.

"What was that about?" Flo asked.

"Oh, nothing." Sally said, slightly startled as she heard the pump stop.

"Mmhmm."

"I'm serious, it's nothing." Sally insisted.

"I bet it isn't. You want to talk about it?"

"Yes." She looked up as she saw the twins approaching. "I-I mean no, not here."

"Well, where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere... please Flo, I really can't- could you just have the twins watch the cafe for a little while?"

Flo gave her an odd look before agreeing. "They've been here long enough that I'm sure I could leave them for a little while. I trust them enough to do shift work so why not?"

As she watched Flo approach the two, Sally couldn't believe what she was asking. It was obvious by now to anyone that she didn't trust the twins as far as she could throw them; to ask something like this must've been a true sign of desperation on her part.

"Where are we going?" Flo asked, as the two passed the Cozy Cone.

"I don't know. I just want somewhere where no one will hear us talking."

Flo nodded, not saying anything else. Whatever was going on must've been serious. The two cars did not say a word until they reached the Radiator Springs welcome sign. Thankfully, Sheriff was not around.

"What about here?" Flo eventually asked. "Sheriff said when he filled up earlier that he'd be out of town for the day, so we shouldn't be expecting him anytime soon."

"Okay." Sally said, driving off the road and into the desert sand behind the sign. Now she was getting nervous. How could she even begin to explain this to another car? The sick feeling in her tank was starting to come back...

Flo was parked in front of her. "Sally, you alright?" She asked, noticing the worried expression on the younger car's face.

Sally shook her hood. "No..." She felt a lump in her throat as she continued. "Okay, these last few weeks I've been sick a bit more often than I'd let on, I didn't want to worry Lightning now that the racing season has really picked up."

"Well, how often?" Flo asked.

"Almost every day, for most of the day sometimes."

"Well, given how worried Lightning was about you today, I'd say he probably knows. Why would he be worried about you filling up with gas though?" She paused for a moment before asking, "You don't think it's the gas that's making you sick, do you? Is that why you wanted to talk to me?"

"Oh no. Flo, that's not it at all!" Sally was quick to explain her reasoning. "I just need someone... female to talk to."

"Someone female- oh!" Flo gasped. "You don't think..."

Sally nodded, blinking back tears. She then proceeded to explain the entire story to Flo, who listened intently. Her voice was heavy with emotion by the end. "Unbelievable! Two years! I didn't have sex for two years, and then Lightning shows up. And-and..." The tears spilled out of her eyes faster than the words could come out of her mouth. "Just how ridiculous is that..." She trailed off in sobs.

Flo opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it, feeling it was better at this point to just let the Porsche cry against her for the moment, she probably needed it. After a few minutes, Flo began to speak. "Sally... I'm not sure sweetie. You have been filling up a bit more often." Flo inferred. "But you need to talk to Doc, if you're not getting, you know, your 'friend' like you should. He'll be able to tell you if you're still protected or you're... expecting."

"Yeah, I know you're right. What scares me is if I am, it means there's a baby growing inside me now, and has been for who knows for how long... Flo I'm not ready to be a mother..." Sally said, her tears starting again.

"Well it's not going to happen tomorrow." Flo said, wiping the tears off of Sally's fender with her tire. "You think you're not ready but come nine months later-" She paused, looking down at the ground. "Listen to me. It's not like you don't know how to take care of a baby. Do you really think your brother would've handed over his firstborn to you for two weeks if he thought he wouldn't get him back in one piece?"

"N-no..." Sally sniffled. The thought of Nevan and Elijah made her smile a bit in spite of herself - the two were so much alike, the similarities were evident even from infancy in the baby car. It wasn't something that Sally would really be able to pinpoint, but it gave her a comforting sense of familiarity. She'd fallen asleep with the Nevan cradled near her each night that he'd been in town.

"Well okay then. You'll make a fine mother, Sally, be it now or later." Flo said in a comforting manner. "Come on, lets go back to town."

Sally nodded, her sobs subsiding into hiccups.

* * *

Lightning sped up as he rounded Willy's Butte. This is what was good about racing - he could push himself to his limits driving around a track and forget about everything. Usually. Today it was just the opposite - the solitude and high speeds were doing nothing but encouraging his mind to think about everything that had transpired between himself and Sally, and the implications of everything she had told him. _Okay, she was crying, that's not a good sign. But she was happier early this morning. She is pregnant, I bet. I'm gonna be a father-_

"Rookie, keep your hood on!" Doc yelled from the sidelines, noticing that he was approaching the turn at far too high of a speed.

_Wha-_Lightning looked straight in front of him only to see the earth disappear and feel the stinging piercing pain of cactus needles a few short seconds later. _Fuck._"Owww..." He moaned.

Doc rolled his eyes at Lightning's apparent inattentiveness and drove to the edge of the embankment. "Alright Rookie what's going on? What's got you so distracted today?"

"Nothing- I... I just lost concentration for a second."

"Concentration my bumper..." Doc mumbled to himself. "I'll get Mater." He gruffly proclaimed out loud to Lightning as he left.

* * *

Sally turned around. "Lightning? Mater, what's going on?" 

"Ah it's nothin' Miss Sally, he just ended up in the cactuses again and Doc wants to check him out." Mater replied as he made his way towards the doors of the clinic.

"Go." Flo said, looking at her.

"What?"

"Go. Find out. It's the perfect alibi, you're checking in on your boyfriend who also just happens to be in there."

"But-"

"Uh-uh. None of that. Now you've got 20 seconds to get in there before I announce it to everyone in this cafe."

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't..."

"You really want to stick around and find out? 20, 19, 18-"

"Okay okay okay!! I'm going!!" Sally exclaimed, a look of panic on her face as she quickly made her exit from the cafe.

Sally pushed the doors to the clinic open, only to see Lightning suspended a few feet above the floor on the hoist.

"Lightning, what happened? Are you alright?" Sally asked, concerned.

"Sally, there's nothing to worry about, this is just precautionary." Doc said to her. "He tossed himself into the cactus patch again, I'm just making sure he's alright before Sunday's race."

"I'm okay, Sal, really." Lightning said reassuringly.

"Looks like you're fine, kid. Lets get back out there." Doc said to Lightning, pressing the button to lower the hoist.

Lightning rolled off the hoist and the two racecars turned towards the doors.

"Wait."

To be continued...

**

* * *

**

**Ooooh… I almost told you, then I made you all wait! Don't you just love cliffhangers ;)**

**I'm hoping the course of events in Sally's realization makes sense to you all. Such contraception methods do exist in our world but a bit of creative license was used – no one would really be without periods for two years, it just wouldn't work. :\**

**NikChik-11's probably going nuts right now wondering if I got the name for this chapter from the All American Rejects song - she's a huge AAR fan. Yes, the title Time Stands Still is an All-American Rejects song, but I didn't know that until after I'd named the chapter. I didn't really like any of their stuff before Move Along was released… I then gave the song a listen and found that it was rather well suited to the events so I decided to keep it. **

**Chapter 9 will be posted next weekend! That's right, new year, new me ;)**

**Some reviews would TOTALLY make my day right about now too...   
**


	9. Time Stands Still Part 2

**Okay, I know you're all dying to figure out if Sally's pregnant or not so I'm not going to say much else right here – on with the show! Oh, and the sections of text in italics are Doc's memories. Just to let you know :) **

* * *

"_Er, Doc, I think she's wakin' up." Mater said._

_Doc turned around to see the light blue Porsche on the hoist slowly opening her eyes. He quickly drove over to her. "Sally?" He asked. She'd been in there for close to three days, and Doc had learned her name after running her VIN number and pulling her medical records from it. _

"_What... who are you? How do you know my name?" She asked, still somewhat disoriented. _

"_Medical records. I'm Doc Hudson. This is Mater." The doctor said, motioning to a very rusty looking tow truck, who gave her a big smile. _

"_Okay..." Sally said, looking around the clinic nervously. _

_Doc could tell by her reaction she was somewhat startled, and unsure of her surroundings. "You've been out for quite awhile. Can you tell me the last thing that you remember happening?" He asked her. _

"_I dont know... I pulled off the interstate. I don't remember how long ago it was but it was awhile ago." More was coming back to her as she started to talk. "I was on the other two-lane highway which was really curvy when I got this, I don't know how to explain it, tight feeling in my engine. I thought I was just running out of gas, so I stopped at the pumps, but there was no gas there. The sun was really hot, so I went inside to get out of it. And now I'm here."_

"_It's a good thing you stopped when you did." Doc said, with a serious look on his face. "Sally, that tight feeling you felt was actually your engine starting to seize. You had no oil in your engine when we found you, and when I got to take a closer look, I found that your oil plug was missing. You had probably been leaking oil for some time but hadn't noticed. The good news is that the damage was minimal, and I was able to repair it. I replaced the plug and gave you a few quarts of oil, with any luck you should make a full recovery."_

_It was obvious to Doc that she was a more than a bit overwhelmed by the news - she looked like she was about to start crying any second. "I know it's a lot to take in. I'd like to keep you here for a couple of days for observation, just to make sure everything's functioning as it should..." _

"Doc?" Sally asked, watching him stare at the piece of paper. She looked down at Lightning on the floor, then looked back to him. "What does it say?"

"It's positive." Doc said, looking up at her. "Congratulations you two - you're going to be parents."

"Oh, wow..." Sally said, as Doc lowered the hoist.

"Uh, when?" Lightning finally asked after he got over the shock.

"That's what I'd like to know. The test returned a result fairly quickly, which makes me suspect that you're more than a few weeks along. When was your last-"

Sally shook her hood. "No idea." She said almost helplessly. "Just, because of what I was on before..."

"Ah, right. We'll have to do an ultrasound to figure it out. Come with me." Doc said, leading her off the hoist and over to another part of the room. She watched as he pulled a very antiquated machine out of the corner, and looked at her briefly. The machine gave an odd hum as it came to life. Doc moved around her, rearranging things on the cart, and pulling out a tube of gel.

"Thats freezing." Sally said, shivering slightly at the cold feeling of the gel on her rear window.

"It's alright, it'll warm up quickly with your body heat."

"What's it for anyway?" Lightning asked.

"I'll be able to see in, to see the baby." Doc replied to his question, as he moved the transducer around the area of the window. "See?" He motioned over towards the monitor near them as the image became clearer. "If you look right here, you can make out the wheels and the axles, and the driveshaft." He motioned towards an area of the screen which was moving in pulsating fashion. "That's the fuel pump, it's developed enough to be pumping gas, which is why you're probably finding yourself filling up more often." He said to Sally.

Sally looked over at the screen, speechless. It was unmistakably a developing vehicle. The look on Lightning's face was a mix of horror and amazement. She looked at him and managed to give a small smile. He looked back and took her tire with his, a gesture of affection and support.

"It's hard to tell what make and model the car is, the chassis and upper frame are still fairly translucent..."

"So, can we figure out how far along I am from this?" Sally finally asked.

Doc moved closer to the screen. "I'm just making an educated guess here, but you look to be somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks in, probably closer to 16."

"Four-four months?" Sure she had prepared herself for the fact that she might've been pregnant, but THIS pregnant? This was too much...

"It's the end of May, another 5 months will put you into November." Doc continued. "Somewhere around the middle to the end."

"Right when the Championship race is." Lightning concluded.

Sally looked at him and opened her mouth, but said nothing.

"Sally, I'm sorry." Doc said, in a serious tone.

"For?" She asked worriedly. _Was there something else still?_ She wondered.

Doc's face softened at her reaction as he realized how that must've sounded. "For not finding this earlier." He sighed. "I should have brought you in and checked you out when you first started feeling unwell, especially considering your condition when we first found you."

"Condition?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, my engine-I didn't even think of that when I raced the twins. I'm so stupid." She said, tears in her eyes for the second time that day. "I can't believe I put this baby in danger. I just can't believe I didn't know, I didn't put two and two together, I thought we were safe, I didn't realize until now-"

"It's alright Sally, don't beat yourself up over it. Many women do a lot worse before they realize that they're with child. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Your engine's been fine for the last two years; the race last Saturday proved that-"

Sally suddenly gasped.

"What is it?"

"When I was in LA back in March I would've been pregnant... Bryan and I went out for a drink then."

"Well how much did you have?" Doc asked.

"Two drinks, over the course of an evening."

Doc shook his hood. "That's not going to do anything. It's not recommended, of course, but it shouldn't have any lasting effects. Sally, you can't second-guess every single thing you've done over the last few months, just take care of yourself now. You're young and healthy, I see no reason why you shouldn't have a normal pregnancy."

"It makes sense though... the day after I came back, I had fuel poison- okay, maybe Motor Corner isn't as sketchy a place as we once thought it was." Sally said. The three cars couldn't help but chuckle.

"Looks like we're going to have an interesting season off the track." Lightning said.

"Lightning, you take care of your girlfriend now. She's going to need you to be there for her, and in one piece no less. No more of this hotshot crap you pull on the track." Doc said with a bit of a smile. "Congratulations Rookie."

Lightning nodded, before following Sally.

"You-you're pregnant. I thought I'd kind of prepared myself for that answer, but it still blows my mind. We're having a baby." Lightning said, sounding positively stunned as they left the clinic.

"Let's just leave, go for a drive somewhere to clear our minds." That was all Sally said, as the two cars began driving aimlessly through town, both preoccupied by the recent turn of events. Neither of them noticed the crowd gathered at Flo's looking on after them.

Cadillac Range State Park was as peaceful and serene as ever, as they made their way through the foothills without saying a word. Soon the mountain range was upon them, yet their usual playfulness was subdued. Sally would speed up and overtake Lightning, then slow down again suddenly, as if she was reminded of her current condition and trying to be careful. Eventually, they found themselves at Wheel Well, out of habit more than anything else.

Sally pulled off into the lookout area, with Lightning following her lead. She was the first to speak. "It's got to have been when we were here, the first time we made love, the timeline fits perfectly-"

Lightning looked up at her, then the hotel. The sun was setting, casting a beautiful orange glow on the structure and the rocks, and creating long shadows of the two vehicles on the pavement. Suddenly it all fell into place. He moved closer to her and pressed his lips to hers, cutting her off. "Marry me." was all he said as he pulled away, leaving her speechless.

"Lightning-yes! YES! Of course I'll marry you!" Sally cried. Overjoyed, she leaped forward and kissed him passionately. She suddenly moved back, breaking the kiss, the implications of his proposal crashing down on her. "Oh, I get it." She said, the look of joy disappearing as quickly as it had arrived, replaced with tears.

"Get what? Sally, why are you crying?" Lightning asked, concerned.

"That's what it is. Do the honorable thing, huh? You don't want to marry me because you want to, you just feel you have to because-because I'm having your child." She said, sobbing as she peeled off in the direction of town, leaving Lightning in a cloud of dust.

"Sally- Sally, wait!" Lightning cried as he took off after her. Darkness was falling quickly on the mountain range, he had no choice but to follow her or worse still, be stranded.

* * *

Doc had been unusually quiet all day. Flo watched him from the cafe, trying to read the older car to no avail. Doc was never the "readable" sort when it came to visible emotion of any kind, but after he left the clinic he did seem even more removed from the other residents in town. She watched as he nodded to her and left the gas pump, slowly driving down the road to the courthouse. 

The courthouse was empty; Red was off tending to some of his flowers in the other parts of town. Doc moved slightly, entering the dark courtroom. He couldn't seem to get the day's events out of his mind, for some reason he seemed to be personalizing this case much more than any of his others. _Sally Carrera, pregnant. _He never thought he'd see the day. It wasn't that the Porsche was reclusive or prudish by any means, but because perhaps he was the only one who really knew of her beginnings in the town. She'd come such a long way from the young, exhausted, and overworked car he'd found two years earlier.

_After a few days, Doc was convinced that the young Porsche was healing well and ready to attempt some more strenuous driving. He offered to take her through Cadillac Range State Park, and encouraged her to drive as she normally would on the journey in order make sure she had no lasting damage from the initial seizing. She agreed, following him out of the town and listening intently to what he had to say about the place. He watched as she made her way through the curvy roads, the urge to drive and accelerate was coming back naturally to her. At times she surged ahead of him, fascinated by the natural landmarks and views that the drive had to offer, much like a young child who's curiosity had gotten the better of her. _

_Doc watched as she explored the area, her fascination and enthusiasm evident. He'd become rather attached to her, not in a sexual way but more of a fatherly way. She was young enough to be his own daughter, but above that he felt that there was something about this car that he identified with. He ad caught up with her by the time they'd gotten to Tailfin Pass, and pulled into the Wheel Well Motor Court. Sally followed suit. _

"_Wow, I remember this." She said, looking up at the beautiful stone wheel carving. The inside of the hotel was shaded by the shadow of the wheel. Even though it had fallen into disrepair, it still looked cool and comforting, and she drove towards it. "How did you manage to find me if I was in there?" She asked Doc, once they were inside. "There's no way you could've seen me in here from the road, I don't think... _

"_Was a good day for a Sunday drive, and I did the same thing you did, went inside to get out of the heat. I went over to you and found you were unconscious but still breathing."_

_She nodded. "And to think, if I'd just pressed on I would've come to the town, and gotten help there-"_

"_Sally, you had a combination of engine failure and heat stroke. Had you gone any further that tightness you felt would've given way to excruciating pain, and..." He paused before continuing, "well, there wouldn't have been anything I could have done for you. You saved your own life by stopping here." _

_She nodded again, reminded of her own mortality before looking around again, obviously taken by the structure. "Why has this place been abandoned like it has?"_

"_The mother road isn't driven very much. Bypassed by the Interstate highways about 30 years ago."_

"_But... how many cars are living here?" She asked. What a travesty! _

"_Eleven." He watched her reaction to the answer. Coming from a big city like Los Angeles, it must have been hard for her to comprehend a town run by only eleven cars. Eventually he began to speak again. "A lot of us in this town do double duty where it's so small - I'm the town doctor and the town judge." _

"_Which is why you don't fraternize with the others too much." she concluded. "I'm a lawyer, I've had my fair share of experiences with judges to know." A half smile crept onto her face, as all of her observations over the last few days fell into place._

_Doc was silent for a moment.__An accomplished lawyer at such a young age? The revelation took him a bit by surprise, but then again the Porsche did seem to be wise beyond her years in many ways. She'd also revealed a piece of information about herself, something which he sensed was not an easy task for her to do either. From then on the Wheel Well became Sally's safe haven, she'd often go up there to seek solitude. _

_Then, Lightning had come to town, only to be taken away in a sea of papparazzi. _

"_You called them?" The look on her face said everything - a mixture of heartbreak and utter disbelief. _

"_It's best for everyone, Sally." was all the older car said, trying to both save face and convince them both that his words were true. _

_By this time she'd gotten over the shock of this revelation. "Best for everyone? Or best for you?" She asked pointedly. _

_He watched her as she turned and drive away, saying nothing else. Something told him that he'd crossed an invisible line somewhere, as he watched her pause in the driveway to her motel, looking longingly after the lit up trailer as she turned off the lights. _

_And now she was pregnant. _

Doc's thoughts were interrupted by an audible sob, accompanied by the sound of two engines racing quickly towards the town.

"But I'm not trying to be trapped!" He heard Lightning shout. "Sally-" He started to say, but she accelerated leaving him in a cloud of dust. Before he could catch up to her, he screeched to a halt as two red blurs came rushing out from the cafe.

"Lightning!"

"Say it's not true!"

"Of course it's true." Lightning said. "What's done is done, you girls are just going to have to accept it." He looked on as Sally disappeared from sight towards the Cozy Cone.

"No!"

"You really can't race again?"

"Wha-" Suddenly he was surrounded by cars, not only the twins, but tourists, clamoring and shouting in disbelief and support...

"Miss Sally!"

"Mater!" Sally swerved into the driveway of the Cozy Cone, narrowly avoiding the tow truck.She turned away from him as they both came to a stop, not wanting him to see the state she was in.

"Well what's wrong Miss Sally?" Mater asked, the usual goofy grin on his face fading.

"Mater..." Sally started, taking a deep breath and trying to compose herself somewhat, "Don't ask, it's complicated- Lightning proposed."

"Well... why's that a bad thing?"

"Because I'm pregnant, that's why!" Sally shouted back before she even realized what she was saying. "Don't you see?" She asked, choking back another sob, "He only wants to marry me because I'm pregnant, not because he wants to!"

"He wanted to marry ya even before today, probably thought that with the baby the time was right to ask ya."

"What do you mean?" She sniffled.

"He's been meaning tuh propose to ya fer weeks." Mater paused, both to let the news sink in for her and out of shock at what he saw down the street. "Now are you going to back there or am I gonna have to tow ya back there?" He asked, referring to Flo's.

Sally turned around, suddenly aware of the commotion behind her. It didn't look like the usual crowds of fans swarming around Lightning, this was close to a riot. "What's going on?"

"Ah don't know, but we'd best go find out."

Lightning was still confused as to why so many cars were suddenly concerned wth the future of his racing career, but he couldn't get a straight answer out of any of them. He had no choice but to field as many questions as he could hear above the mass hysteria that had somehow engulfed him.

"Mr. McQueen, is it true that your accident today will sideline you for the next three races?"

"How many points will you lose?"

"Will this have long term effects on your racing?"

"What do cactus needles do to a car's undercarriage?"

"Stickers! Lightning! Let me through..." Sally said, making her way through the cars. Mater was behind her, lifting annoyed cars out of their way with his tow hook.

"Hey, break it up!" Flo shouted. "Let these two through." A few disgruntled noises could be heard as the circle around Lightning eventually widened to let Sally park in front of him.

"Stickers, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I screwed everything up. Of course I want to marry you, if your proposal still stands."

"Of course it does, nothing you said could be further from the truth. I wanted propose to you ages ago, I just couldn't get up the courage to."

Sally nodded, blinking back more tears. "Then, yes, Lightning McQueen, I will marry you." The crowd of cars around them went silent for a split second, then burst into raucous cheers of excitement.

"Let's get you out of here, I can't have anything happening to you now." Lightning said, before kissing her happily. The two managed to extract themselves from the cars, and drove into the cafe area. The others met them with concerned looks.

"Everything's really alright?"

"With Lightning, yes..." Sally said, looking over at him and breaking into a smile.

"Well, I suppose this is what they talk about when they say hormones, huh?" He asked, looking back at her as the tears dried on her fenders.

Flo gasped. "You are! Oh my goodness, Sally!" She cried excitedly.

Sally nodded. "Shhh. I think we've given Stickers's fans enough excitement for one evening. I promise I'll tell you everything after."

* * *

**There you have it. In some ways you all knew it was inevitable, but either way… review and tell me what you think? **

**It might be a couple of weeks till I get the next chapter up, because I still have yet to write it. **

**Well, I'm off to see Juno tonight (Anavelg says it's great – he's seen it twice in theatres) … I hope I have lots of reviews to read when I get back! 3**


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